Darkness Rising
by SyxkeaXIV
Summary: Vlad has a new scheme, and this time he's got the right partner to make it happen.  Between ghost attacks, a new student at school, and keeping his secret from his parents, will Danny be able to handle this new threat?  OCs present but no Danny/OC.
1. Vlad's New Scheme

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. The show belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.

* * *

><p>There were a few things Vlad had learned about the Ghost Zone over his many visits that he now took as the norm. The ghastly green glow that surrounded everything, the quiet moaning that he could always hear in the distance, the way some random ghosts would fly in and out of his vision as he flew to whatever his destination was at the time…Vlad Plasmius had grown used to all these things. He could recall how he had been creeped out to nearly frightened during his first trips into the Ghost Zone, but after more than twenty years to learn about it and develop his own ghost powers there was little that he feared as he traveled there. Vlad <em>was<em> after all one of the most powerful ghosts in existence, and he of course had the advantage of having human knowledge on top of it.

Vlad could easily remember the last time he had entered the Ghost Zone on a mission similar to the one he was on right now. It had been his trip to Pariah's Keep, when he had freed Pariah Dark from the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep using the Ghostly Skeleton Key, and again when he locked the Ghost King back into the sarcophagus as Daniel used all his strength to keep it closed. But that was a tale of another time. Vlad had a different reason for traveling to the Ghost Zone this time around.

And this time, he had done his research more thoroughly. As Vlad flew through the glowing green ectoplasm, he consulted the book he had spent a good amount of time searching for. It was not an expensive book, but copies of it were hard to find due to the fact that it was out of print and mostly considered to be a load of trash by most scholars. It was by an author named Frederich Isak Showenhower, whom Vlad knew from his spies as the ghost controller Freakshow. The ringleader himself had not been available for Vlad to question, but his book worked as the next best thing. The book contained plenty of information about ghostly artifacts, including a specific glowing red crystal ball that Vlad knew could be used to control ghosts. Although this item intrigued him, he was searching for something else, of just a slightly different nature.

The book directed him to the deeper regions of the Ghost Zone, deeper even than Pariah's Keep had been located. The castle Vlad was in search for was just as old (as far as ghost chronology went) as the Keep as well, though the book was rather vague as to what exactly was there. What Vlad did know was that the artifact he wanted would be there, and he would pass any obstacle and fight any foe to reach it.

Because this time around, his plan was _personal_.

The Black Palace was the quintessential fairy tale castle in every sense with the exception of the color. It was made of black and grey stone in a medieval fashion, with deep red roofs and spires at the top of a huge tower. There were four smaller towers at the corners of the courtyard, and in the center was the larger tower, about one and a half times the height of the other four. Small, barred windows decorated the towers and the walls surrounding the courtyard. Circling around the castle walls was a moat filled with dark green ectoplasm, which was a tad disconcerting to Vlad, as ectoplasm was often considered the equivalent to ghosts as blood was to humans. The small amount of land around the moat and castle looked relatively normal, and if Vlad didn't know any better he would have said it looked alive. A drawbridge was lowered over the moat, leading to a pair of huge doors that had been opened just slightly.

Smirking and tucking away his book, Vlad slowly entered the Black Palace. He paid no mind to the fact that the drawbridge shouldn't be lowered and the doors shouldn't be opened. The inside matched the outside perfectly. Torches with blue flames gave the hallways an even more eerie glow, and he noticed the presence of cawing crows up near the ceiling, a few of which flew up and down the hall. The carpets down the corridors were deep royal blue, and maroon curtains passed between each of the many doorways he made his way to what he was sure would be the throne room. The half-ghost became more cautious as he approached this room. Finding the artifact in the throne room would be the easy part; the hard part was convincing its owner and guardian to let him use it.

More blue-flamed torches kept the throne room alit, and at least twenty red-eyed crows made this room their home, if the number of birds and amount of nesting material was any indication. A grand staircase at the back of the room led up to a large, elaborate throne made of what appeared to be silver. It had been twisted and molded to look like tree branches, but without any leaves to decorate it. A single crow was perched on the top. On the throne's seat was the artifact he had been searching for: a transparent sphere, about the size of Vlad's fist. It was glowing faintly, but a strange grey color, contrasting to the blue and green of the throne room.

"That's odd. The Orb of Mental Will is supposed to glow green, not grey," Vlad commented, taking out the book and returning to the page he had bookmarked. He read the passage again, and then smiled. "Of course. It doesn't glow the proper color until ectoplasm has been added to it. But this…is exactly what I'm searching for."

Vlad began to float up to the orb and was about to pick it up when he was blasted away by a white ghost ray. He flipped over backwards, orienting himself into a battle position and facing the direction from which the blast came from. He knew the orb's guardian would be waiting for any intruders, but the site before him was not exactly what he was expecting.

This ghost had the appearance of a lady perhaps in her late twenties. She wore an elegant but at the same time simple white dress that looked like it came from the Victorian era, torn in a few places to expose her shoulders and a bit of her legs. Her hair was white, long and flowing across her shoulders like a cloud, while her skin was just a shade off from being the same color. The only color on her besides white was in her deep green eyes, and even those were hazy and appeared to be unfocused. Despite this, Vlad could feel her looking directly into his very soul.

Vlad finally got his breath back, and immediately switched his tone to one of diplomacy. "The White Lady, I presume?"

"You presume correctly," she replied, taking a step forward but making no other move to attack. "Who are you, and why have you trespassed here? The Black Castle is off limits to all those but the Ghost King."

"I am Vlad Plasmius," he introduced himself. "And I am here to see you about the Ghost King and about your orb."

There was more cawing from the crows, but the sounds they made somehow managed to form words. "Plasmius" they kept saying, followed by "Half-ghost." The female ghost looked up at the birds for a moment before returning her gaze to Vlad.

"Indeed, _my_ orb," the White Lady said, followed by a pause. She looked pleased by the use of the possessive pronoun. "Plasmius…the one who released Pariah Dark."

"You do know me then?"

"My crows know," she replied, pointing upwards to where the birds continued to caw. "They are my eyes outside this castle. They tell me everything that occurs in the Ghost Zone."

"You do not leave here?"

"I may if I wish. I choose not to."

"From your crows then, you know the events of how I released Pariah Dark and how he was imprisoned again, I take it?" Vlad questioned.

"I know _of_ you and your actions, and of those of the ghost boy who defeated Pariah Dark." said the female ghost, seeming determined to reword Vlad's statements to be closer to the truth. The crows above them began to chant out the name "Phantom…Danny Phantom." Again, the women glanced up for a moment but otherwise ignored them. "But I have never seen Vlad Plasmius' face. How do I know you are him?"

"I can only say that is who I am, and that your crows know who I am," Vlad answered, keeping his voice as sweet as possible. She didn't look convinced, however. "Dear White Lady, what do I have to do to prove my identity to you?"

"The crown…" the birds called again. "Where is the crown?"

"Plasmius kept the Crown of Fire after Lord Pariah's second imprisonment," the White Lady responded. "Do you have it?"

Vlad, having predicted something like this, did in fact have the Crown of Fire in his possession. It was the symbol of the Ghost King (whether that person was Pariah Dark or someone else) and he knew he would need it for his plans. It was a bit of a gamble carrying it with him into the Ghost Zone; after all, what would happen if it was stolen from him? He pulled it out and showed it to her. The White Lady took a few steps towards the half-ghost, reaching out with her pale hand until it was just under her palm. Vlad had to keep himself from pulling away from her; he had to get the White Lady on his side, or his plans would never come to fruition. She did not touch the crown, but held her hand just above it to feel its energy. After a moment passed she retracted her hand and stepped back.

The White Lady looked Vlad in the eye again. "Do you know what the Orb of Mental Will does?"

"I do."

"Then why do you seek it?"

And so, Vlad told her of his plan. The White Lady listened intently, her misty green eyes growing more focused as he came to the end of his tale. Once finished he waited for her response, mentally crossing his fingers in hopes that she would agree to help him. If she did, then his campaign of conquest and revenge would be that much closer to being within his grasp.

"I will allow you to use the Orb of Mental Will," the White Lady finally decided. Vlad let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, but managed to make it inaudible. "Free the Fright Knight from his pumpkin tomb, and bring him here. We will make a more detailed plan for your conquest together."

"I worked with the Fright Knight when I released the Ghost King," Vlad explained. "He should be willing to work with me."

"He must know the importance of this order. Tell him he must come swiftly," she insisted. She lifted the edge of her gown sleeve and pulled out a white handkerchief, embroidered with silver. "Bring him this. He will know it is I who has called him."

"I will do so, My Lady," Vlad agreed, taking the token. He glanced back at the orb still sitting on the silver throne. "And, the orb…?"

"Bring me a sample of the boy's ectoplasm," the White Lady commanded. "And I will show you the control you desire with the orb from there."

"Thank you again, My Lady," Plasmius answered, excitement already beating in his blood…or ectoplasm, since he was in ghost form. "I will return shortly with the Fright Knight."

The White Lady nodded, and Vlad flew to exit the Black Palace. This was perfect! That meeting could not have gone better. With the White Lady and Fright Knight as his allies, Vlad would be able to put his plan into motion. Soon he would have everything he desired…a crown, an army, his own kingdom, a prince, and, most importantly, a queen.

"Just a little longer, Maddie," he said to himself as he left the Black Palace and headed in the direction of Pariah's Keep. "Just a little longer."

Back in the Black Palace, the White Lady stroked the head of the crow that had been sitting on the top of the throne. She gave the bird a small smile before turning her attention to the rest of the flock in the throne room rafters.

"Spread your wings wide, and deliver this message," she declared. The birds began flapping their wings excitedly. "The White Lady calls for her court. Anyone who wishes for my favor must come within two human days' time. Be prepared for negotiations, planning and battle."

The flock took off, each bird heading in the various directions that would allow them to exit the castle. The only crow that remained was the one on the throne, which the White Lady continued to stroke fondly. She had to admit, she had been waiting for this day for centuries, if what her gut feelings were telling her were true. Could the time really have finally come?

There was only one way to find out. Bending down, she grabbed the Orb of Mental Will from its seat on the throne. Once it came in contact with her ghostly skin, it began glowing white as bright as her own dress. She lifted it up, a small smile gracing her face. She had not held her orb since the end of Pariah Dark's first reign, when she had put herself into self-exile in her palace. It felt good to feel she could use it again.

"Orb of my former flesh," the White Lady called to the sphere. "Show me this half-human boy who goes by Danny Phantom."

The small wisps inside the orb parted, showing the face of a young man in his mid-teens, his hair as dark as her own ravens and his eyes as blue as the Earth's sky. He was laughing with a couple of other teens, eating something that the lady recognized as a "burger" though she had never eaten one herself when she was alive. The White Lady let doubt flood her mind for only a split second; the boy looked distinctly human, but there was something about his aura that told her that there was more. She knew from her crow's reports that he was half-human, half-ghost, and was powerful enough to face and defeat her old master. And the look of his face…she could not tear her eyes from him for a while. She spent a good fifteen minutes just watching him in the globe.

The White Lady placed the orb back on the throne, its white glow fading as soon as she was no longer in contact with it. She took a distracted glance around the throne room.

"Could this be the time?" she wondered out loud. "Could the prophecy really come true…now?"


	2. Torture that is High School

Amity Park was all in all "a nice place to live," as its many entrance signs stated. It usually had pretty good weather, and its crime rate was not very high. There were enough places to keep people of various ages busy, including but not limited to a mall, movie theatre, water park, amusement part, arcade and of course Lake Eerie (with two e's). If a survey was done, most of the residents there would have said that they enjoyed living in Amity Park. The only thing that was really a problem there was the relatively frequent ghost attacks.

This morning, however, there was also some chaos at Fenton Works. The commotion wasn't about the ghost portal or a new ghost-related invention. It wasn't about breakfast being brought to life, or any blabbering about the battles between the "ghost kid" and some other ghosts the night before. And it wasn't even about Maddie making her delicious cookies.

Danny Fenton's father, Jack, decided that morning that he would be his son's alarm clock.

"Morning, Danny-boy!" Jack declared in his booming voice, shoving his son's bedroom door open without knocking. "Rise and shine!"

The only response he got was a groan from beneath Danny's covers. Did his dad really have to be so noisy in the morning? With all the ghost attacks that had happened last night, Danny hadn't gotten to go to bed until about three in the morning, and he was still sleepy. Surely the morning could wait another hour or three before forcing him to get up. Unfortunately Jack had something different in mind.

"Time to get up, son!" Jack boasted again. "Better get moving! Chop chop!"

Jack proceeded to do everything that an annoying father would do. He opened the curtains to Danny's window, shining the bright morning sunlight right into his son's face and causing the young man to squint his eyes tighter shut. He grabbed the top of Danny's bedding and pulled it right off, exposing his drowsy son who cringed at the sudden cold. Jack kept on blabbering about how exciting the new day would be, especially when his newest ghost invention, the Fenton Anatomizer, would be finished and he got to try it out.

"Why do you call it an Anatomizer?" Jazz had asked the previous night. "Yet another really dumb name."

"It removes pieces of a ghost's anatomy and helps to identify what kind of organ or tissue the sample is," Jack explained. "Or what it was when the ghost was alive."

"It's for research purposes, Jazz," added Maddie.

"I thought you said that ghosts are nothing but putrid balls of self-aware protoplasm?" Danny asked.

"True, but with this baby I can see just what that protoplasm is made out of," Jack answered. "Research purposes, Danny. It's not like ghosts can feel any pain anyway."

Both siblings had shuddered at that thought. Danny decided that he didn't want to find out whether than contraption would hurt or not. To him, it automatically went into the "Must Avoid" category. But that was last night…back to the following morning.

"Why do I have to get up right now?" Danny moaned.

"Now Danny," Maddie said as she passed the doorway of her son's room. "You don't want to be late for the first day of school, do you?"

Danny groaned again. He forgot that today was his first day of his sophomore year at Casper High. Even though he hadn't gone on his planned cross-country trip with Sam and Tucker (following his battle with Freakshow and the destruction of the Reality Gauntlet) the summer had gone by way too quickly for the young half-ghost. Three months was not nearly long enough to recover from the trauma that was high school, especially since he spent a lot of that time fighting off any invading ghosts instead of relaxing. More and more, Danny was wishing he didn't have to keep some many ghosts at bay on such a regular basis.

Finally opening his eyes, Danny glanced at the alarm clock sitting on his nightstand. It read 7:25…and school started at 8:00.

"Oh crud!"

Jack let out a bellowing laugh and he finally left the room. "Better get moving, Danny!"

Danny leapt out of bed and starting changing out of his pajamas and into his usually white shirt and jeans. He combed his hair by hand before rushing to brush his teeth. If he hadn't gone to bed until three and he woke up at about seven-thirty…that meant he only got four and a half hours of sleep!

_Well, it's not like I haven't gone to school after an all-nighter before_, he thought as he finished brushing his teeth and began to fill his backpack. _I can already tell that this isn't going to be a good day._

"Morning Danny," he heard his sister, Jazz, greet him from somewhere behind him. The little overachiever was already set to go. "Need a ride to school?"

"Thanks, Jazz, but I've still got some stuff to do," Danny replied. He turned to whisper to her so their parents wouldn't hear by chance. "I think I'll take the aerial route again."

"Okay, Danny. Watch out for you-know-whats," Jazz said with a giggle before heading on her way. "See you at school."

Danny didn't leave for school until about ten minutes later. He gave a rushed goodbye to his parents before running out the door and around the corner to a nearby ally. He shifted to his ghost form and took off to the skies.

"Even if I'm stuck in school all day, at least I've got an excuse to go flying now!" he said excitedly to himself.

Glancing at his watch and seeing that it was about a quarter until eight, Danny sped up his flying as fast as he could. Luckily it didn't take very long to reach Casper High from his house when he flew, so he reached the school grounds in no time at all. Danny always enjoyed flying, not only to school but just flying in general. He may get annoyed at having to defend Amity Park from ghost attacks so often, but he wouldn't trade the ability to fly for anything!

Danny moved to land about a block away from Casper High, pleased that he would be able to make it to class on time, when a chill ran down his spine and a cold wisp of air escaped from his mouth. At the same time, a deep howl came from behind him.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Danny grumbled.

He slowly turned around to face whatever had been howling at him. It was a ghost dog, smaller than Cujo in his more monstrous form but no less frightening. He looked like a giant German shepherd dog, with deep yellow eyes and saliva dripping out of its mouth. He stood in battle position, the hair on his back standing up and his tail straight as a pole. The dog's teeth were tainted with red spots, looking disturbingly like blood; there were matching spots on his claws as well. Danny gave the dog a nervous smile.

"I guess you don't have a smaller, less slobbery form like the last ghost dog I met?" Danny wondered.

The ghost dog leapt at him with a deep bark. Danny turned intangible, and once the dog had phased through him he turned around and shot a ghost ray at it. The attack hit the German shepherd in the side of the head, and it gave out a distressing whine. Growling again, the ghost reared up before shooting a red beam of energy out of its mouth. Having not expected such ability from a ghost dog, Danny didn't dodge or phase quickly enough to avoid the beam, and it landed right into Danny's chest. He was knocked back and crushed into a nearby dumpster.

With another snarl the dog lunged at him again. Danny phased himself through the wall to avoid it, only to be followed when the dog phased himself through as well. He pinned the boy down to the ground, with Danny's hand stuck above his head. Leaning dog, the dog sniffed his face, hair and neck, before giving him a long lick across the face.

"Hey! I don't need dog slobber on my face before school!" Danny yelled, kicking the ghost dog off him and flipping around to send another ghost ray in his direction. He wiped the dog drool off his face. "That's just gross."

The ghostly German shepherd slammed into the wall on the other side of the dentist's office, where Danny just realized he was. Seeing that the dog was dazed, he took the moment to pull out the Fenton thermos he always carried with him, and directed it at the beast. The dog gave out another bone-chilling howl as it was sucked inside.

"Another typical before-school ghost fight," Danny joked as he shut the thermos with its lid. He turned back to human form, took another glance at his watch, and promptly transformed again into his ghost form. "Crud! Two minutes to eight!"

Danny turned invisible and phased himself out of the dentist office and into the school building as quickly as humanly and ghostly possible.

* * *

><p>Tucker Foley was enjoying a nice pre-class game of pong on his PDA. It was the fastest game he could play while still being simple enough that he could turn it off the moment Mr. Lancer started class. Strangely, he was one of the first students to find a seat for first period. He was no more eager for classes to start than his fellow classmates, but with Sam being in a different class for first period and Danny not showing up he was forced to entertain himself. Mr. Lancer had been quite surprised to have found the young man sitting in a chair already, but said nothing about it.<p>

_Why did I have to get stuck with Mr. Lancer for English again?_ Tucker complained in his head. _Isn't there another teacher I could have? Another year of the same…boring…stuff…_

He turned off the game on his PDA, knowing that Mr. Lancer would be on his back soon if he didn't, but kept checking his schedule and email. As it got closer to eight o'clock, more students started to pile into the classroom. Having had most of them in various classes from freshman year, Tucker could name each one as they came in.

_Paulina…Dash…Star…_Tucker listed off, bored already. Wonderful, he was stuck with them again. Of course, he was sure they weren't happy about it either. _…Oh, there's Valerie—Wait. Who's that?_

The new girl walked into the classroom right after Valerie, taking a look at a piece of paper in her hand and walking up to Mr. Lancer to ask if she was in the right place. She had shoulder-length light auburn hair and brown eyes that were hidden by a pair of sunglasses, which she moved to the top of her head to see the room better. She had on a purple shirt that was tied in the front and a pair of dark navy jean shorts. Her backpack was swung over her shoulder and across her chest. Three loop earrings donned the tops of each of her ears, and she fiddled with them nervously as she looked around for a place to sit.

Seeing an empty desk next to Tucker, the girl walked over and dropped her pack onto the chair.

"Is it all right if I sit here?" she asked Tucker with a nervous grin.

"Go ahead," he replied. She sat down and began taking out a notepad and pencil. Tucker smiled at the new girl. Time to turn on the charm! He stuck out a hand in greeting. "I'm Tucker, Tucker Foley."

"Abigail Donato, but my friends call me Abby," the girl answered, taking his hand and shaking it. "Pleased to meet you, Tucker."

"Looking forward to English first thing in the morning?"

"Not really, I'm no good at it."

"Well, maybe you're just in the wrong class," Tucker stated. "The Miss Amity Park classroom is across the hall."

Abby stared at him for a minute. Tucker began to rethink his statement when she suddenly burst out laughing. A few of the other students turned to stare at her, and she quickly tried to get herself under control. Eventually she turned back to Tucker.

"Ah, but that would mean I can't be in this class," Abby countered. "And you'll miss out on my dazzling beauty."

He gaped at her. Did she just respond to one of his lines? Tucker shook his head to regain his composure.

"And your beauty so rivals the graphics of the recent release of Doomed 2."

Okay, maybe he didn't regain his composure after all. Great. A geek pick-up line. Was that really the best he had?

"If only your copy of Portals Vista wasn't so out of date, you could keep up with my processor."

…She got the joke?

"My PDA is already in overdrive just by sitting next to you."

"I would recommend a computer tech for that, but I might get jealous."

The two sat silently, Tucker in shock at having a girl actually respond to him this way. After a moment, Abby gave him an amused smirk.

"That…has got to be the lamest set of pick-up lines I've ever heard," she said.

"Can't blame a guy for trying, right?" Tucker added. Abby didn't _look_ annoyed at him. "You know tech at all?"

"Enough to get your tech humor," the girl replied. "But I'm definitely no expert."

"I'm the best techno geek in Amity Park," he bragged. What an odd thing to be proud of. "I've got the skills, the knowledge—"

"And the modesty," Abby interrupted good-heartedly.

"That too," Tucker agreed. This girl was pretty cool. He looked at the clock on his PDA and saw that class would start in a few minutes. "Wonder where Danny is…"

"Danny?"

"Danny Fenton. He's been my best friend since _forever_!" declared Tucker. "And he's running late again."

"Is that him now?" Abby asked.

Sure enough, just as the late bell rang, Danny literally jumped into the classroom and landed on his face. Abby cocked an eyebrow at Tucker in question, but he just chuckled and shook his head. Danny looked up from his place on the floor as Mr. Lancer rose from his seat and stood above the young man.

"Mr. Fenton, while I am thrilled at the idea of you being excited enough about my class, for once, to get here on time," the teacher lectured in a monotone voice that grew into a yell. "I will have to insist that you get through the door in a more civilized manner!"

"Sorry, Mr. Lancer," Danny said, getting to his feet and taking a seat behind Tucker. The latter turned around and gave Danny a high-five. The former lowered his voice so only Tucker could hear him. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Alright, class. We're starting with the early Victorian period," Mr. Lancer stated as he returned to the chalkboard. "Open your books to page sixteen…"

_Getting into a subject on the first day of school?_ Danny wondered. _Why did I have the rotten luck of getting Lancer for sophomore English class?_

* * *

><p>Danny managed to get through the rest of his morning classes somewhat painlessly. There had been no other ghost attacks, and so far Dash had not done anything to bother him (which was bizarre unto itself). Lunch hour couldn't come fast enough though, and the ghost hybrid was happy when it finally did.<p>

He stood in the lunch line, wondering what kind of unpalatable meal was going to be served to the students today. Since he did not have time to bag a lunch that morning, Danny was forced to endure whatever this food was going to be. It looked like some kind of hotdog substitute with small pebbles that may have been peas and beans.

"Hey Danny," a voice called from behind him. He turned his head to see Abby standing with a food tray in her hands.

"Hey Abby," Danny returned. "How's it going?"

"Not bad, I guess," she answered. She gestured to the row of food platters. "Any chance you can you tell me what's edible here and what's not?"

"Edible? You might as well skip lunch if you're looking for edible," joked Danny. Abby gave an amused smile and cocked an eyebrow. She seemed to do that a lot. "I guess the hotdogs aren't that bad, so I'd recommend those over anything else."

"What, no gourmet chicken alfredo?"

"No chicken period."

"…Um, mind if I join you for lunch?" Abby asked him, filling her plate with a hotdog and a few other items.

Danny paused, but quickly shrugged his concerns off. What were the chances that she'd figure out he's half-ghost just by sitting with him and his friends for an hour? He knew it was probably hard being the new kid, so he decided to cut her some slack. "Sure, follow me. I'm sitting with Sam and Tucker."

The two of them walked over to what had been Danny's usual table during his freshman year. Sam and Tucker were already sitting there, enjoying their respective meals; Sam was eating a tofu salad-looking thing and Tucker had piled six hotdogs without the buns onto his plate and nothing else. Danny sat down across from Sam, and Abby sat across from Tucker.

"Hey Tucker," she said. Tucker gave her a smile in response but said nothing; his mouth was full. Abby looked over at Sam. "Hi. I'm Abby."

"Sam Manson," the goth greeted. She glanced at Danny for a split second before returning his gaze to Abby. "I take it you're new here?"

"Yeah, I just moved to Amity Park a few weeks ago." answered Abby.

Sam leaned her head towards Danny so she could whisper into his ear. "Is this a good idea? What if she figures _it_ out?"

"She's new, Sam, give her a break," Danny said, leaning forward in response. "Wouldn't you want a place to sit at lunch on your first day in a new school?"

"Um, hello, Goth Girl here," Sam persisted. "I'd be fine sitting on my own, you know."

"Um, I can leave if I'm causing a problem," Abby offered. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but the slightly irked look on Sam's face was making her worried.

"No, no, it's _fine_," Tucker insisted as he gave Sam a small glare. "Isn't it, _Sam_?"

"Forget it," replied Sam. "No problem."

Abby looked down at the vegan meal on Sam's tray. "What are you eating?"

"Tofu scramble," Sam told her. "Filled with the best veggies and spices from my greenhouse…and _no eggs_."

"No eggs at all? How's it called a 'scramble' then?"

"Not sure, but I prefer it without the eggs anyway."

"Do you eat those sorts of things every day?" inquired Abby.

"I'm an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian," Sam announced proudly.

"What's that?"

"She doesn't eat anything with a face on it," Danny summarized automatically, like he had to Tucker about a year ago.

"Weird," Abby said, but this didn't seem to wipe the proud expression off of Sam's face. She then looked over at the all-meat meal Tucker was consuming at breakneck speed. "And does he always eat nothing but meat too?"

"All-meat streak, he says," replied Danny, before Tucker had the chance to swallow his food and answer himself.

"Huh," Abby panted before going back to her own hotdog. "Also weird."

* * *

><p>Lunch passed without further exciting events, though Danny did get a few glares from Dash and the popular table. At least, Danny <em>thought<em> he was the one getting the glares. It could have been Tucker or Sam, or someone sitting behind him, he couldn't be sure. Danny was very happy to get to talk to Sam though; he didn't share any of his morning classes with her, and her presence was missed. As odd as it was to be forced to not speak about ghost-related issues, with Abby sitting next to him and all, it was nice to be able to talk with her about normal adolescent things…well, as normal as the two of them could get anyway. He could have sworn he saw Tucker mouth "clueless" to Abby at some point, but he hadn't been watching Tucker close enough to know.

About halfway through lunch period Danny felt a familiar chill, and his next exhaled breath came out visibly. Sam looked at him expectantly while Tucker looked at Abby out the corner of his eye. Fortunately she was concentrating on her food and didn't appear to have noticed Danny's ghost sense go off. Danny shoved the rest of his food into his mouth and chewed as fast as he could.

"Sorry, need to go!" he huffed out once he had swallowed. "See you in class!"

With that, Danny rushed out of the cafeteria as fast as his feet could carry him. Abby watched as he ran out, curious about what he was in such a rush about, but decided that it was none of her business.

"I'm done too," Abby said. "I need to go find where my next class is anyway."

Danny had to find an empty bathroom stall so he could transform. His ghost sense had gone off twice since he left the cafeteria, so he knew that the second ghost of the day was still nearby. He turned invisible and flew around the school hallways, looking for any sign of the ghost.

The job didn't take long. Another ghost dog was prancing up and down the hallways, sniffing each of the lockers as she went. It looked the same as the German shepherd ghost that he had fought that very morning, only slightly smaller in size and wasn't drooling nearly as much. Some of the students who were in the hallways screamed in terror and ran. Danny instead flew towards the ghost dog, passing Abby as he went, and stopped in front of the beast.

"Didn't I just deal with your twin already?" he taunted. The dog sniffed the air again, and, concluding that she had found what she had been sniffing for, lunged at Danny and pinned him to the ground. "Hey! Not again!"

Just like the last ghost, the dog gave Danny a long, slobbery lick before leaping off of him and landing behind him. Danny flipped around to face the dog again, charging up his ghost ray in his hands in preparation to attack. The dog just looked at him, gave out a bark, motioned her head to point towards the exit doors and galloped out, phasing through the doors in the process. Confused, Danny checked to make sure the Fenton Thermos was still on his belt and then moved to follow.

Outside the school, Danny glanced around for the ghost dog. It couldn't have gone that far, and she obviously wanted him to follow her. Any students that had been outside for lunch had either run back into the school or towards the parking lot, so there wasn't anyone to get in the way during the fight that would inevitably ensue. Good. Danny usually tried to avoid getting any innocent bystanders hurt if he could help it.

Danny was not prepared when the German shepherd ghost tackled him from behind and pinned him to the ground once again, this time face down. She barked happily again and grabbed the Fenton Thermos with her teeth. Taking it into her mouth, she ripped it off Danny's belt and then jumped away with it. She tossed it around, against the ground and trees, until the emergency release button was pressed and the larger ghost dog Danny had caught earlier was freed from its confinement. By the time Danny had the chance to recover from the surprise attack, he could only watch helplessly as the two dogs let out long howls, gave him one last look and sprinted off into town.

Picking up the chewed thermos, Danny glanced at his watch. There was no time for him to go chasing those ghost dogs unless he wanted to skip class, which he wanted to avoid on the first day of school since it was likely that (just like last year) he was going to be missing enough school as it was. He sighed and flew off to return to a boy's bathroom where he could safely return to human form. He grumbled in annoyance as he walked down the halls to his next class.

"Hey Danny, do you know where—whoa," the voice of Abby came up behind him, but stopped when she saw the really irritated look on his face. "Sorry. Bad time?"

"Just something stupid," he grumbled. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you know where room 221A is?" Abby said, pointing to the schedule she held in her hand.

"That's next to my next class," Danny replied. "Follow me."

"I seem to be following you a lot," she joked, but only managed to bring a small smile to his face. "Anyway, I just saw something awesome! There was this giant dog being followed by a white-haired boy who could fly around. In the school!"

"Yeah, ghost attacks are pretty common here," he mumbled again. Too common for his liking. "Welcome to Amity Park."

"So was that boy that Danny Phantom guy?" Abby inquired. Danny nodded, but with a perplexed expression. How did she know him? Upon asking her, she answered him. "I read about him on some online news sites before I moved here, when I was trying to learn about Amity Park. I wasn't sure if the news was actually real or faked though."

"Oh, the ghost sightings are real all right, and Danny Phantom does make the news sometimes," Danny confirmed. He added silently: _But not always in the best light._ He stopped in front of the door to his next class. "Anyway, room 221A is a little further down the hall. My class is here."

"Okay, thanks Danny," Abby said. "Cheer up, okay?"

"Thanks."

Abby rushed down the hall to make it to the room in time for class while Danny entered the nearby classroom. Most of the students had already taken most of the seats, but the half-ghost spotted a free one right next to Sam Manson. All irritation immediate lifted off his shoulders as he sat next to her.


	3. Meeting at Court

**A/N**: Hello again! Well, we're back to Vlad and his plan, trying to get it underway. I still don't explain a lot of what he's thinking, because I don't want to give it away just yet, so I apologize if things still seem a little vague. I just don't want to dump the whole plan into action too fast, so please be patient with that. And now, to the story!

* * *

><p>Vlad looked around in awe at the ghosts that had gathered in the hallways and throne room inside the Black Palace. In his twenty years of experience with ghosts, there were few times when he saw as many ghosts in one place as he did at that moment. Most of them looked to be soldiers from old wars, but there were all types of shapes, sizes and pasts waiting in the castle. Vlad flew over them and entered the throne room.<p>

Ah, here were the ghosts that he recognized more easily. He easily made out Skulker, Ember, Technus, Desiree, Walker, Spectra, Bertrand, Johnny 13 and Kitty among the ones he could see most easily from where he stood. He could see the Box Ghost floating up near the ceiling, taunting the White Lady's crows with his usual "I am the Box Ghost" banter. Youngblood was talking to his parrot about something Vlad couldn't hear while picking his nose; he cringed at the idea of allying himself with such a snot-nosed child, but he wasn't going to refuse any possible aid. And there was Sidney PoinDexter sitting in the back of the room…wait, why in the Ghost Zone was Sidney PoinDexter there?

Vlad had to admit, he wasn't sure why some of these ghosts answered the White Lady's summons. Walker, for example…wasn't he usually busy enforcing his rules in his prison? Why would he be willing to take the time out to come to this meeting? And Skulker didn't seem the type to want to ally with the White Lady, considering that he had been one of the ghosts who fought against Pariah Dark's army in the most recent battle with the Ghost King… Perhaps it was mere curiosity that called many of the specters here.

The hybrid floated up to the throne, where the Fright Knight stood next to the throne in silence while the White Lady sat on one of the armrests overlooking the ghosts in her halls. She looked to be only mildly pleased, and that was potentially bad news for Vlad. This was not a ghost he wanted to get on the bad side of.

"My Lady," he crooned. "Is everything all right?"

"Some of the ghosts I was expecting have not come," she replied.

"Such as?"

"The Ghostwriter for one. I wanted his research and scribe skills for something," the White Lady explained, though it was obvious that she was not going to tell him what this "something" was. "Frostbite for another, though I think I understand why he did not come. And Prince Aragon, or at least his sister Dora."

"I suppose we are missing a few powerful ghosts," Vlad confessed. "But look at how many did come."

"We must assure their loyalties," she argued. She stood from her position on the throne armrest and looked to the Fright Knight. The White Lady paused, however, when she sensed someone getting too close to the Orb of Mental Will behind her. Spinning around, she saw that the Box Ghost had floated down from the crow's rafters and had started to poke the orb in curiosity. "What do you think you're doing?"

The Box Ghost stopped his actions and looked up at her. "I am the Box Ghost! I rule over all that is cardboard and quadrangular!"

"Do you even know what quadrangular means?" Vlad wondered.

"Your spherical object cannot hold any power over me!" the Box Ghost continued. "This globe of ectoplasmic power is not—"

The Box Ghost didn't get to finish his proclamation, because the White Lady sent out a charge of energy that circled around him like a lasso and pulled him down from the throne to her. She grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand and brought his face up to hers.

"No one touches my orb without my permission," she hissed at him, showing anger for the first time since Vlad met her. "Am I understood?"

The Box Ghost gasped and choked in surprise. "Perfectly, ma'am."

The White Lady tossed him behind her shoulder, the rope snapping and disappearing into thin air in the process. The Box Ghost flipped end over end a few times, and landed face-first into the wall next to PoinDexter and Youngblood. They cringed at the sound of the crash.

"So much pain…" the Box Ghost groaned.

The White Lady glared, at the spot at the back of the chamber where the Box Ghost landed, for no more than a moment. She returned her attention to the Fright Knight, as she had been before the Box Ghost decided to be foolish.

"Are you ready, my dear knight?"

"I am ready, mi'lady," the Fright Knight answered. "Shall I call the ghosts to order?"

"Yes, do," the While Lady ordered. The Fright Knight moved to gain the audience's attention while she turned around to face Vlad. "Are _you_ ready, Master Plasmius?"

"Call me Vlad," he said charmingly. "And yes, I am ready too. Will you do the speaking, or shall I?"

"You should," answered she. "If you are to be the next king as you claim."

The Fright Knight had gotten the attention of all the ghosts in the castle by this point. Even if they could not see the speakers, they could hear the voices in the echoes of the hall. Some ghosts like Walker, Skulker and Spectra forced themselves to the front to see who was speaking. Vlad mentally breathed and stood at the top of the stairs just in front of the throne. This would go fine. Many of these ghosts knew him and even worked for him at various points in time. He could convince them to go along with his plan.

"Greeting ghosts from near and far," he greeted in his most omnipotent voice he could manage. "I am Vlad Plasmius, and I bring a message to all of you that will shake the very foundation of the Ghost Zone."

"It has been many months since the defeat of the Ghost King, Pariah Dark at our own hands and at that of Danny Phantom. And with his defeat the Ghost Zone has remained at what we would consider to be relative peace. There have been disagreements, arguments and fights, but there is still enough understanding among us here that keeps the Ghost Zone in balance.

"However, all of you who fled to the human world when Pariah took over, I want you think about what it was like there. Did you find a safe place to hide from the Ghost King and human ghost hunters alike? Did you enjoy your time in the human world? Did you enjoy being able to do as you pleased there, whether it was just flying around the town or wreaking havoc upon the humans? Have you ever had the desire to go back? If so, what are your reasons to return? If not, why would you want to remain here in the Ghost Zone instead?

"I ask you all these questions because I am leading up to a more general question: What if I said I could give you all access to the human world, to do there as you please?"

There was silence from all the ghosts for a moment, followed by a few minutes of murmuring among them. Vlad raised his hand, and he got their attention again before continued.

"Humans are inferior creatures compared to us. They squabble over the most petty of things, and are completely intolerant of anything that differs from what they consider 'normal.' Then when things do not go the way they expect or desire, they complain about it without any regard for anyone they may have done wrong. Ignorance and bigotry are trademark human traits. I ask you: do we see these traits among ghosts? My answer to this question is no.

"Ghosts are no different in the eyes of humans. To those who have been to the human world, how long did it take before you were inevitably hunted down by a ghost hunter of some class, or perhaps by the Guys in White? It couldn't have been very long. It doesn't matter what you are doing or who you are with. If you are a ghost, you are a menace to human society and need to be either returned here to the Ghost Zone or destroyed. We are piles of semi-conscious ectoplasmic forms to them, with no feelings, desires, needs or fears. But ghosts are not entirely like that, are we? If we were, we would not worry about losing our freedom to a tyrant like Pariah Dark.

"To this, I return to my question. Who here would like to be able to pass to and from the human world as you like? The human world is setting itself up for a fall. We can take advantage of that, and in fact there is no reason for us not to. Why should we be the alleged 'evil' ones? Why are we the 'villains'? We, not humans, are the ones who should be inheriting the earth, both in the human world and in the Ghost Zone."

Cheers could be heard throughout Vlad's speech, and grew louder with each sentence he spoke. Smiling widely, Vlad let his words sink into the crowd. He hoped he would be convincing enough to rile them into action, and so far it seemed to have worked. Vlad turned back to the White Lady, who gave an elegant shrug.

"Not exactly the most effective motivational speech I think," she concluded. "But you made the point regardless."

Vlad decided to take that as a compliment. There was some more discussion amongst the ghosts before all went quiet again. Walker stepped forward; the almost entirely white ghost was not the one Vlad expected to speak first.

"What exactly are you proposing, Plasmius?" the warden asked, his deep voice very suspicious.

"I am proposing, Walker, that we unite the human world and the Ghost Zone, figuratively and literally," Vlad responded. "And join them together under one banner. My own."

"You wish to rule the Ghost Zone?" Desiree spoke up, intrigued.

"And the human world along with it," the half-ghost clarified. "But let's do it one step at a time, shall we?"

"Why should we follow you? You declare yourself as the ruler of this 'banner' as you call it," Spectra, who was in her deep black form, scorned. "What gives you the right to call yourself 'Ruler of the Ghost Zone' when you are only half-ghost yourself?"

"Because, as a half-ghost, I have access to resources the human world that _you_ would not normally have access to," Vlad described, not affected by her in any negative way. "And I have a plan that can bring the human world under my thumb."

"Let's hear this plan then," insisted Walker.

"It is quite simple, really," stated Vlad. He turned to Technus rather deliberately. "Though it does require resolving a few…_technical_ difficulties."

Technus just cocked at eyebrow at him as he listened.

* * *

><p>By the time Vlad was done explaining the plan, his ghost audience had split into three categories.<p>

First, there was the group that was in complete agreement with his plan. What he had described to them could work, though it would take a lot of ghost-power to make it happen, and it would be quite beneficial for them if it succeeded. This category made up the majority of the ghosts in the Black Palace though, so that would not be an issue. Spectra, Technus and Desiree seemed to be the ones most interested in his plans.

The second category consisted of the indecisive ones. These ghosts acknowledged the motives behind Vlad's plan, and the many ways they would benefit from it if the plan somehow worked, but they questioned whether or not the plan would be successful, and if it was would the sacrifices and potential losses be worth it? There were a few chances of it going wrong after all…

The third category was made up, of course, of ghosts that did not like the idea of someone ruling the Ghost Zone again. Many ghosts felt that there was some harmony in the inherent anarchy of their world. And after the tyranny of Pariah Dark, the idea of another ghost trying to take the mantle of Ghost King was more than unnerving.

"As much as I like the idea of putting the humans in their place, I don't see what's in this for us," Spectra stated; Bertrand gave a nod beside her. Technus and Desiree stood by her in agreement. "Give me one good reason why I should help you become the new Ghost King."

"I can give you each what you desire as a reward for joining me," said Vlad. He looked pointedly at Spectra. "You feed off others' misery and doubt. By aiding me, you will have every opportunity to feast on the pain of the humans we conquer. And believe me, there _will_ be pain."

Spectra smiled at Bertrand, who looked as stoic as ever. Vlad then turned to Technus.

"And you, Technus, whom I need most of all to make sure this works, want access to whatever technology possible. How would you like to have your own company and technology to develop anything you want, hmm?" he offered. Technus gave out a chuckle, obviously happy with the idea. Vlad turned his attention to Desiree. "And dear Desiree, the Wish-Granter, the other half of my plan. What can I offer you in exchange for your allegiance?"

"…Wishes that will benefit _me_," she stated after a moment. "Instead of being forced to grant them for fools."

"That can be arranged," Vlad replied with a grin. That would be easy, once he had the human world under his control.

Unfortunately, it appeared that some ghosts from the third category decided to be more vocal about it than others.

"I don't think so," Skulker proclaimed. "I am all for the hunt, but what you are describing is not noble or worthwhile. You will drag us into another war like the one with Pariah Dark. We don't need that."

"We _really _don't need that," Johnny 13 agreed from his position of leaning against his motorbike; how exactly did he get that glass-breaking contraption into the Black Palace anyway? "Think about how much of the Ghost Zone we had to rebuild after the whole Amity Park thing."

"Dealing with the Ghost King last time was bad enough," Kitty nodded in agreement with her boyfriend.

"Yeah," said Johnny. "You want to repeat history or something?"

"Or something," Vlad taunted. "But it will be different this time."

"Your plan involves the cooperation of that dipstick, Danny Phantom," Ember interjected before more arguing between the hunter, the biker, the biker-chick and the half-ghost could continue. "What makes you think he'll work with us? He _hates_ most of us."

In the back of the room, PoinDexter watched the scene unfold before him in silence. Part of him wanted to stand up and say no, like the others were. There was nothing to be gained from bullying the humans again so soon after having them deal with Pariah Dark. The release of the Ghost King (which, he wanted to argue, had been Vlad's fault to begin with) had led to bad things for human and ghost alike. What would they gain by trying to do all that again?

PoinDexter finally stood up, having gathered the courage to say just all that, when he was forced to sit down again by Youngblood. The green-haired ghost put his index finger up to his lips.

"Just wait and let the stupid adults hash this out for a minute," Youngblood demanded. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"I have a method that will convince Phantom to cooperate," Vlad said to Ember. He turned around the gestured to the Orb of Mental Will sitting on the Black Palace's throne.

"You want to use the Orb of Mental Will?" Walker said. "That is one of the forbidden ghost objects. Using it is against the rules."

"I do believe I have permission from its guardian," Vlad countered, his hand floating over to the White Lady. "Do you have any objections, my lady?"

"I do not, Plasmius," the While Lady returned. She stepped forward and faced Walker. "No law has been broken, Walker. I will teach Plasmius to use it properly."

"When Pariah Dark used it, it nearly led to the destruction of the Ghost Zone and the timeline, if my knowledge of history is correct," Walker argued. "I serve law and order, my lady. I am more interested in bringing that Phantom punk to justice than working alongside him."

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that," the White Lady contended. "Danny Phantom is possibly the one from the prophecy."

There was a loud gasp and more chaotic speaking from the ghostly audience. Most of the ghosts had heard of the prophecy, but to have it come to pass now? And to have Danny Phantom of all ghosts be the key to it?

"You lie. That's absurd," Walker proclaimed. "That punk?"

"And even if he was," Skulker interrupted. "What makes you think the prophecy _should_ be fulfilled?"

"Yeah, it's like Johnny said, do you want to repeat history?" Kitty interjected, stepping off her boyfriend's bike. "What if we end up back under an iron fist like the Ghost King again?"

"Trust me, I will not let that happen," Vlad comforted her. "Daniel will work with us willingly. I will make sure of it."

"I'll say it again, it's against the rules to use such a dangerous object," Walker repeated. "I don't care if you know how to use it. I will not let you."

"Neither will I," Skulker agreed, standing next to Walker. "I have no desire to be ruled over by you, Plasmius, or to have to answer to the ghost child."

"I'm wounded, Skulker," Vlad condescended, placing a hand over where his heart would have been if he had been in human form. "After all the times we've worked together, I would think you'd trust my judgment better than that."

"Not if it means my own destruction," the hunter clarified.

"Count me out too," Ember decided. "I don't need someone else telling me what to do."

"Same here," said Johnny. Kitty nodded as well.

"I'm sorry you all feel that way," Vlad conceded, his tone very fake in his concern. "There's only one thing to do about that."

Vlad stepped aside, allowing the White Lady to come forward to face the five ghosts who decided to openly go against Plasmius' rule. Her serene face gave nothing away; she merely stared at each of them with clouded green eyes. Kitty moved back towards the bike at the look. Every bit of ectoplasm in her being was telling her that something was about to happen, that she had to get as far away from this ghost woman as she could.

The White Lady raised her right hand to Walker, who tensed up and took a battle position. He didn't have the opportunity to react though, as the ghost lady sent out a ghost ray of deep purple from her fingers, hitting him straight in the chest.

"Enthrall," she whispered.

The purple ghost ray circled around Walker, spinning faster as it eventually reached his head. The ray split in half once it reached his face and shot into his eyes. He gave out a cry of pain, his body glowing the same shade of purple for a moment before fading. When Walker opened his eyes again, they had changed from their normal ghostly green color to a sickening purple. He stopped screaming, stood up straight and faced the White Lady with a blank expression.

"I will have no disobedience," she ordered him. "Am I understood, Walker?"

"Yes, mi'lady," his voice came out in monotone.

"What the hell?" Skulker said. He lifted his arm and produced a rocket launcher from his shoulder. "What did you do?"

"I have made his mind my own," the White Lady replied. "Do you dare to disobey me as well, Skulker?"

"I will not be made a puppet," he answered, shooting a rocket towards her. She blocked it with a flick of her wrist and the appearance of a white ghost shield.

"Enthrall," she repeated as she fired another purple ghost ray, this time at Skulker. This time the shot missed as Skulker activated his jet pack and took to the air, but the White Lady just calmly aimed again. "Enthrall."

This time the shot hit true. The ray coiled around the hunter ghost just as it had Walker, stopping him from moving. Technus, Desiree, Spectra and Bertrand just stood by as they watched Skulker's body crash back to the floor and the ray enter the eyes of his helmet, where his normal, smaller form was taken over. His mind emptied of all thoughts save for the mantra saying that the White Lady was to be obeyed at all times.

Ember, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to jump into the air and take out her guitar. She shifted its setting to the symbol of a fist and sent an ecto-punch towards the White Lady. This time it was Vlad who blocked the attack with a ghost shield, sending the attack back at the ghost rockstar. Ember fell to the ground and groaned.

"Shadow," Johnny commanded, his black shadow rising from the stone floor beneath him, ready for his owner's orders. "Attack!"

The White Lady gave a smirk as she fired a regular white ghost ray at the Shadow. The bright light that came from the ray blinded it for just long enough for the White Lady to send two more "Enthrall" rays at Johnny and Ember. Ember writhed on the ground in pain as the ray took over her senses, and Johnny spun around to face Kitty, who had been standing behind him the entire time. He could feel the ray taking over his mind, and soon, he knew, he would have no free thought of his own. He doubled over, looking up at Kitty with shock and pain on his face.

"Can't fight it, Kitty," he whispered. "Can't fight her. Run. Now."

"Not without you Johnny," his girlfriend cried, kneeling down to help him, only to be pushed away roughly.

"I said run!"

Taking note of the deadly serious tone in her boyfriend's voice, Kitty jumped from her position at her side and landed on Johnny's bike. She revved the bike, turning it towards the nearest window and driving out, shattering the stained glass blocking her path in the process. She took one last look behind her to see Johnny's eyes change from green to purple. Her own red eyes narrowed in anger as she turned back to look where she was going.

Pushing on the gas of the bike as hard as she could, Kitty fled. About fifteen minutes later she turned to look behind her. Fortunately, it looked like Vlad and the White Lady decided that she was not worth following. She heaved a sigh of relief.

But now what? If Vlad really was planning to take control of the Ghost Zone and the human world, and if his plan did work out how he had told them, there was not much she could do on her own. She was not the most powerful ghost out there, and certainly couldn't take on both Vlad and the White Lady by herself. Although Walker didn't get a chance to fight back, the fact that Skulker, Ember and Johnny had all been so easily subdued clearly showed the power the pair had. Add the power of Danny Phantom to that…

She had to get to Danny before Vlad did. That was her only chance. That, or find some way to send him a message. She knew that the Fenton Portal would be closed due to the fact that the Fentons were upgrading it, and chances were that once it was done Vlad would send some of his ghost lackeys to guard it, just as they were surely guarding his newly constructed portal. There was no chance of her using either of those. She could wait until a natural portal opened, but who knew when that would happen, and where in the human world it would take her.

Slowing the bike down a little, Kitty tried to think of other options. Actually going to the human world was out of her reach at the moment, so the next best thing would be to send Danny a message somehow.

What did the White Lady mean by Danny Phantom being the one in the prophecy? Kitty had heard of the prophecy, but had to admit that she knew very few details about it. She knew that it would be a few days before Vlad tried to get to Danny, so perhaps she had some time to find out more about the prophecy instead, and think of a way to communicate with the human world.

Kitty smiled; she knew exactly the ghost who would have records that would go back that far…records kept in the home of a ghost who practically lived in a giant library.

* * *

><p>The White Lady glared at the retreating form of Kitty on Johnny's bike. How dare that impudent girl break <em>her<em> stained-glass windows of _her _palace! She had half a mind to send her crows after the girl, but held herself back. There was no point in wasting energy on someone who could do nothing to stop her and Vlad now. She turned her attention to Johnny, who had by that point succumbed to her Enthrall spell and was standing at attention next to Ember, Skulker and Walker; his shadow now had a purple aura surrounding it, the same color as her Enthrall ray.

Yes, she would get even with that Kitty girl soon enough.

"Would anyone else like to disobey my word?" the White Lady declared to her hall. There was no answer. The remaining ghosts either agreed to go along with Vlad's plan, or were too intimidated to speak up after that display of power and authority. "Then prepare yourselves for battle. We will finish our preparations, and will alert you all to when the time is right."

Most of the ghosts dispersed, save for a few guards and the four enthralled ghosts. PoinDexter stood from his place at the other end of the hall, shocked at what had taken place and glad that he had not spoken up after all. He took one look at the enthralled ghosts and shuddered. That could have been him only minutes ago!

"Well, this is no fun," Youngblood complained as he, PoinDexter and the Box Ghost left the great hall for the more shadowy hallways. "Taking orders from those two nitwits. What next?"

"Keep your voice down," the Box Ghost cautioned, acting strangely like an un-obsessed ghost for once in his afterlife. He pointed towards Walker and Skulker, his finger shaking a bit. "You want to end up like them?"

"No way!" Youngblood yelled.

"What are we going to do?" PoinDexter asked. "You heard Vlad. He's going to take over the Ghost Zone as the new Ghost King. We can't let that happen!"

"And what do you suggest we do?" the Box Ghost wondered.

"Are you scared, Box Ghost?" PoinDexter said. "I've never heard you go this long without a 'Beware!' shout."

There was a moment of silence. "Beware!"

"Seriously, dude," Youngblood interrupted. "What can we do? We step out of line and we lose our minds, literally."

"Quiet, they're speaking again," PoinDexter told the other two. "I want to listen."

All three turned back to watch the activities in the throne room, staying hidden from view as best they could. There was more cawing from the crows, as some of the birds flew in to the rafters from the outside. The White Lady listened, closing her eyes and relaxing to the sounds of her birds. Vlad just watched her in curiosity.

"Is everything all right?" he asked her.

"My crows are reporting to me which ghosts have refused to come to my court," the White Lady answered him. "Princess Dora has refused, but her brother Aragon says he will come if he is able to escape from his prison cell in what _used_ to be _his_ castle. I recall my birds telling me about his fight with his sister, how she stood up to him and won."

"Do you believe Aragon will obey a lady such as yourself?" Vlad inquired.

"Me, no he will not. He sees women as his inferiors, after all," she concluded. "You are the one who will have to give him orders if he will obey willingly. And if he still will not…"

A worried shiver ran down PoinDexter's back as her sentence trailed off. Willing or unwilling, if Aragon came to the court he would do as these two more powerful ghosts commanded.

"Frostbite has refused, though that as I stated before that does not surprise me," the White Lady resumed as her crows continued to speak to her in their own language. "But no word from the Ghostwriter yet. I may need to send him a more personal note."

"But aside from those minor drawbacks," Vlad insisted. "all is going according to plan?"

"Thus far, I say yes."

Two bone-chilling howls sounded off from a short distance away, echoing through the corridors of the Black Palace. Youngblood, PoinDexter and the Box Ghost spun around in shock, trying to locate the source of those ghastly sounds. There was another howl as a pair of giant ghost dogs, one slightly smaller than the other, in the shape of German Shepherds bounded into the throne room. Vlad looked at them, startled, but the White Lady simply spread out her long dress as she sat down to greet the beasts.

"Calm down, Vlad. These are my dogs," she said as the two ghost dogs nuzzled her cheeks. She gave them strong scratches at their ears to return the affection. "The male, the larger one, is Jager, and the female is called Nyx. Like my crows they are my scouts, though they have many other uses as well."

"You sent them to scout something recently?" asked the half-ghost.

"I wanted their opinion about Danny Phantom himself," the White Lady told him. Vlad froze; what exactly did she want to know that was more than what he or her crows had already told her? Whatever it was, she seemed satisfied as she listened to Jager and Nyx's report in the form of whimpers and whines. How this lady ghost could speak to ghost animals the way she could, he would never know. "I see. Vlad, you will be pleased to know that young Phantom has passed my dogs' test."

"Their test?"

"Or rather, the test I asked them to put him through. I wanted them to tell me about his power from first-hand experience, and he fought them brilliantly, even to the point where he was able to capture Jager and trap him in that infamous thermos of his," she clarified. "Rumors about the boy who defeated Pariah Dark can become exaggerated over time. I had to know for myself if they were true and, according to my dogs, they are."

Vlad bristled at the idea that she would try to find out about Danny rather than just taking his word for it. She even went to the point where she sent a pair of ghost German Shepherds to fight the boy? What was she thinking? He forced himself to breathe; getting angry at the White Lady was _not_ an intelligent thing to do. Besides that, he had more important things to worry about, such as learning how the Orb of Mental Will worked. He knew what it did but not how to control it, and the sooner he got the contraption working the better.

"You said you would show me how to use the Orb of Mental Will?" Vlad questioned the White Lady (who was still sitting on the throne room floor with her dogs), though it came out more like a statement than a question.

"I did tell Walker that, didn't I?" the White Lady assured him. She stood up and brushed her tattered dress. "As I told you two days ago, you must get me a sample of Phantom's ectoplasm. Of course, from what my beasts have told me that will be no easy feat."

"Fear not, My Lady," Vlad consoled her. "I have a plan on how to get the sample."

"Which is?"

"Daniel is a very strong for his age, and his young body heals quickly. Despite my own power, he normally would not let me get close enough to touch his ectoplasm," Vlad explained to her, smiling. "Instead, I will approach him after a few consecutive ghost attacks, when he is too exhausted to fight against me."

"You believe it will be as easy as that?" the White Lady asked.

"Of course not. Daniel will still be on his guard when I go to him," Vlad persisted. "But I have a plan for that too."

* * *

><p>Just outside the throne room, PoinDexter, Youngblood and the Box Ghost continued to listen in as Vlad and the White Lady spoke. They looked at each other, wary of what to do next. What the two ruling ghosts were discussing just made the trio more and more worried for their own safety, and for that of their home, the Ghost Zone.<p>

"If there was some way to contact the outside," the Box Ghost considered. "Get in contact with Phantom, or Dora, or Kitty."

"There's no way we can talk to anyone in the human world from here," PoinDexter mentioned. "It's like Youngblood said, if we so much as _look_ like we're inciting rebelling we'll be hit with that Enthrall spell faster than you can drink an egg cream!"

"Then we need some way to reach outside the castle without raising any suspicions," Youngblood concluded. He tapped his foot for a minute, shifting it back and forth between a regular foot, a pirate peg-leg and a giant version of a doctor's syringe. A minute passed as the three ghosts thought but came up with nothing. Sudden, a light bulb went on in Youngblood's head. "Hey PoinDexter."

"Yeah?"

"You wouldn't happen to still have that two-way mirror of yours, would you?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN Again:** I'd just like to mention, in regards to the White Lady's Enthrall ability, I bet some readers are thinking along the lines "Why doesn't she just use that on Danny?" There _is_ a reason why she doesn't, but it won't be explained for a couple more chapters or so, so please bear with me on that too.

Also, reviews are much appreciated!


	4. Physical and Mental Struggles

To say that Danny was having a bad week would have been an understatement. Some words that would describe the past seven days better included "awful", "dire", "harsh" or just plain "rotten." Besides his dad still working on the Fenton Anatomizer and causing a few explosions down in the lab in the process that kept him awake at night, Danny had been stuck dealing with an inordinate number of ghost attacks. A few of the ghosts he knew well, like Technus, Bertrand and Desiree, while a few ghosts he had either never fought before or had only faced a few times. The pair of ghost German Shepherds showed up a few times, as well as a bunch of ghosts that looked like they had come out of a medieval time period. Danny was tempted to think that they came from the same kingdom as Prince Aragon, but wasn't sure if they worked for him since he knew that Dora was in charge there.

Danny had had enough by Saturday. Besides having to deal with the appearance of a silent Walker, he had to somehow finish the massive pile of homework his teachers had already given him. Lancer had assigned an essay on the poetry they were going over (a subject Danny was no good at even on a good day), he had to write in his chemistry journal about the experiment the class was supposed to do the next week, his history class required a summary of the chapter they covered by the ended of the week, and he was as hopeless at math as he always had been. High school was a pain in the butt.

On top of that, it looked like Dash finally decided to resume his favorite hobby of Danny-hunting-and-clobbering. Danny had already seen the inside of his locker more times than he cared to remember, and by Friday he had taken to turning invisible and intangible to get through the school hallways to make it to class, just to be sure Dash didn't find him. The only advantage to Dash's bullying was the fact that when his parents asked where some of his ghost-fighting bruises came from he could attribute them to being in Dash's way at the wrong time.

The encounter with Walker was what really worried him, however. First of all, the warden rarely ever came to the human world in the first place, preferring to try to keep his idea of order in his jail in the Ghost Zone. The only time he came through a portal was when he tried to re-capture Danny and turn the rest of Amity Park against him. This most recent meeting was nothing like that; Walker said nothing about Danny breaking any rules or called him a punk at any point…in fact, he hadn't said a word at all. He just chased after Danny and fired ghost rays at him at every opportunity. Walker had managed to hit him a number of times too, sending waves of agony through Danny's body. It was after Danny had fallen through a few billboards that Walker suddenly stopped and flew off, leaving Danny both in immense pain and in confusion. He was definitely more sore than usual the next morning.

Actually, Danny was feeling more tired and sore than he normally would after a few ghost battles. It was obviously because of the number of fights he had been in; normally he would have maybe a day or two between fights, but now his body didn't have time to recover. He could see the bruises accumulating on his skin both in human and ghost form, and his ghost form had more and more cuts at the end of each day. Why in the world were so many ghost attacks happening?

Thank goodness for Tucker and Sam, as usual. Tucker had taken to being his "time manager" again, though he was far better at it this time around than when Danny had to do that report on Delilah, the purple-back gorilla. He was always able to find a silver lining to whatever problem Danny was facing, and he managed to make him laugh when Danny _really_ needed it. At least, he could make Danny laugh until Sam would smack him upside the head in jest. Sam was the true encouraging one, helping Danny out with his homework and patching him up after he received any particularly nasty wounds. He never said it to her face, but Danny was becoming more and more grateful for having a friend like Sam around. When she was helping him, he felt like he could take on anything, ghost or otherwise.

Sunday came, and Danny was determined to take advantage of the day. He had managed to finish his homework, with Sam's help, on Saturday, and the two of them plus Tucker were going to the movies to see the latest release of Dead Teacher V. His side stinging slightly from the gash on his side that he received from a fight with the always-monologging Technus, he sat down in the theater seat, Tucker to his left and Sam to his right.

In the process of sitting, however, Danny managed to knock his injured side against an armrest. He hissed in pain as he collapsed into the seat. Sam looked down at him with a concerned look on her face.

"You hurt, Danny?" she asked. He gave her an annoyed look. "Sorry. Standard question again."

"I'm fine," he grunted out, holding onto his left side. "I just need to sit."

"Relax for a while," Sam said. "Nothing's going to happen here."

"That's almost as bad as when someone says 'What's the worst that could happen?'" Danny joked. He cringed again as he leaned back in his seat. "I hate it when people say that."

"Here, dude, eat something," Tucker said, handing a bucket of popcorn to him. "You need your strength."

"Not sure I have an appetite," Danny protested, despite taking the bucket and shoving a handful of the butter-covered popcorn into his mouth.

"Maybe it would be better for you to go home and get some sleep?" Sam suggested. "You look like you're going to nod off any second now."

"No! I need this chance to take my mind off ghosts," the halfa objected, taking another handful from the bucket. "It's like you said, nothing'll happen. It's just a movie."

"That's the spirit, buddy," Tucker emphasized. He held out a bag that contained a few hotdogs that he bought earlier from the snack bar. "Hotdog, anyone?"

"Tucker, you know I don't eat that!" Sam complained.

"Hotdog can't even be considered a real meat, Sam."

"They're close enough, you still slaughter innocent animals to make that stuff. And you could try eating something else besides just meat for once."

"Why on earth would I want to do that?"

"Someday, Tucker, I swear, your oh-so-great all-meat streak will come back to haunt you."

"Nah, only Danny's going to do any haunting around here."

"Thanks," Danny interjected. "Haunting a theater to force Tucker to eat vegetables. Definitely my idea of a good time."

"Oh, who asked you, Danny?" Sam huffed.

"Quiet!" Tucker shushed them, despite that fact that he had been doing most of the talking. "Movie's starting."

The trio quieted down as Dead Teacher V played, munching on the popcorn and candy they had brought in. In spite of the action that he normally would enjoy in a film like Dead Teacher V, Danny was having a hard time focusing on it. Between his exhaustion and the pain from his injuries, he could barely keep his eyes open. Sam had to tap him on his shoulder more than once to get his attention back on the movie again. Maybe Sam's recommendation of just going to bed wasn't such a bad idea.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing he knew he woke up and opened his eyes to find Sam's hand pressed against his mouth.

"You were talking in your sleep," she whispered to him.

"Sorry," he replied, his voice muffled by her hand. He blushed slightly when she didn't move her hand from his lips. "Um, Sam? You can let go of my mouth."

"Oh, right," she muttered. "Sorry."

Sam still didn't move.

Sensing another one of Danny and Sam's awkward moments, Tucker stood up and started to leave the theater, claiming that he was going to get more popcorn and another drink. He grumbled a bit in annoyance as his eyes adjusted to the brighter lights in the lobby.

"Why can't they just do the 'make-out' without the 'fake-out' part and get it over with?" griped Tucker, tossing the empty popcorn bucket into a trash can. He was about to get in line at the snack bar to get some more when he spotted Abby leaning against a Crash Nebula arcade game, looking rather put out. Abandoning his place in line with a smile, he sauntered over to the arcade games. "Hey Abby."

The girl turned her attention to him, and visibly brightened. "Hi Tucker. Seeing a movie?"

"That's what you do in a movie theater," he jested, glad that he was able to make her smile.

"Okay, stupid question."

"Nah, it's cool," Tucker replied. "Hanging out with Valerie? What movie are you seeing?"

Although she had spent lunch with the ghost-hunting trio a few times the past week and sat next to Tucker in every class they had together, Abby had taken to floating around the different cliques in Casper High, some of which she got along with better than others. For instance, Abby didn't even try sitting with the popular kids like Paulina or Dash, and she didn't share many interests with some of the nerds or band members. So she sort of naturally drifted to Valerie and a few of the other students who hung around her. It seemed obvious that she would be the one Abby would be seeing a movie with.

"Yeah, and with _Star_ of all people," Abby jeered. It was also obvious that Abby was not very fond of Star either, but tolerated her because Valerie sometimes hung out with her. "She wanted to see this chick-flick, and I'm just not that interested."

"You don't like chick-flicks?" Tucker asked, surprised. He would think a girl like Abby would.

"Some are fine, but not this one," she answered, jabbing her thumb at the theater door with the title "Sweep Me off My Feet" above it. "If I ever become as much of a bimbo as the girl in that movie, you have authorization to hit me with your PDA…or any other heavy object."

Tucker bellowed out a laugh. Now _there_ was the Abby he had grown to know over the past week.

"So you decided to ditch it?" he questioned.

"Valerie's watch alarm went off and she said she had to do something, and Star wasn't paying attention to me anyway," Abby explained. "So I'm going to wait till Valerie gets back. If I have to go through that torture, she does too."

"Where'd she go?" Tucker inquired. The only reason Valerie would take off so suddenly was if her ghost-hunting gear detected a ghost nearby, and that could be bad news.

"I'm not sure. She ran outside somewhere, and I haven't seen her since," responded Abby. Yup, bad news all right. "What movie are you seeing?"

"Dead Teacher V."

"That's the gory one, isn't it?"

"Yup!"

"With Danny and Sam?"

"Yup again," said Tucker. "We—"

"Tucker!" the voice of Sam rang out. The Goth rushed over to where he was standing with Abby and grabbed his arm. "Come on!"

"Wait! What!" he gasped out as he was yanked away from the other girl and outside. "Um, bye Abby! See you later!"

"See you later…" Abby replied, though she doubted that Tucker heard her.

* * *

><p>Tucker pulled his arm out of Sam's grip once they were outside the movie theater. Part of him was really irritated at how she would just grab him and drag him outside without so much of a hello, and the other part of him was really worried because, after all, Sam wouldn't do that unless something was really, <em>really<em> wrong.

"Sam, hold up!" he yelled, rubbing his sore arm. "What's the rush?"

"Danny's ghost sense went off," she explained. "He ran out of the theater to go ghost and check it out."

"…And I had scheduled to be a _relaxing_ evening," moaned Tuck as he slung his backpack off his back and pulled out the Fenton Thermos he (almost) always carried with him.

The two of them ran to the center of the street to see if they could spot Danny anywhere. There was the sound of an explosion and a dragon roar, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from exactly. Even the amount of lighting that would come from Danny's ghost rays were hard to pinpoint.

"Did Danny say anything about where he was going?" Tucker asked.

"No, he just ran off," Sam replied. "He could be anywhere now."

The two ducked and covered their heads as something in red flew over their heads and into a nearby parked car. The familiar form of Valerie in her upgraded ghost-hunting suit became visible as the dust from the crash cleared. A group of people began to gather around the site, and Valerie looked around in hesitation. If someone recognized her in her suit she was in big trouble; she had promised her dad she wouldn't do this ghost-hunting thing anymore, and if he found out she broke that promise…oh boy, would she get it!

Valerie flipped off the car and into an alleyway. Her hoverboard flew from her fight with the dragon ghost and reappeared next to her. The number of people surrounding the spot where she landed (or collided, rather) was increasing, but she was not about to let that stop her from going after that ghost! Leaping back onto her hoverboard, Valerie took off again and headed towards the battleground…or maybe "battle-air" was a better term, since the dragon could fly after all.

Tucker and Sam watched as Valerie left the theater parking lot and flew off. They looked at each other for one moment before running off after her. She would lead them right to the ghost, and by extension right to Danny.

* * *

><p>Due to the fact that he did not have a beating heart while he was in ghost mode, Danny was able to ignore some of the pain in his body as he flew around Prince Aragon's dragon form. There were still some residual aches but it was nothing he couldn't handle, or so he thought. Aragon on the other hand was in peak physical condition (by ghost standards), and the dragon prince knew it.<p>

Aragon swung his tail at the halfa, knocking him into the ground below. With a snort, he sent a breath of fire towards the boy. Danny was fortunate enough to dodge out of the way just in time.

"Feeling a tad under the weather, fool?" Aragon taunted, giving a few hard flaps of his wings.

"And you're a little rusty," Danny mocked back with a blast of a ghost ray. "Was your dungeon too drafty for you?"

Aragon yelled out as the ghost ray hit him in his left eye. "I'll shut that smart mouth of yours for good!"

He dove down at the ghost boy, slamming into him and continuing on so that his head rammed into a nearby apartment complex, with Danny in between his head and the wall. Danny hissed as the wound on his side split open again.

"You aren't even a challenge when you're this weak," said Aragon, despite the fact that he was holding his eye as it throbbed. "This is far too simple."

Aragon clearly spoke too soon. He didn't see the blast from behind, hitting him in the middle of his neck and bending it backwards at an unnatural angle. If Aragon hadn't been a ghost, it would have likely broken his long spine. Dropping Danny from the building wall to the ground below, Aragon spun around just in time for Valerie to pass by his head on her hoverboard, bringing a gust of wind along with her. He shut his remaining eye against the wind before sending his breath weapon at her.

Danny glanced up, his eyesight blurry from both the pain in his side and in his skull. He took a deep breath and slowly stood up, meaning to get back into the air and into the fray. However, just as he was gathering the strength to do so, Danny felt his arms being grabbed from behind. Whoever it was forced him to become intangible and phased him right through the building wall. He struggled, trying to get the large hands to release him, but to no avail.

"Stop, Daniel," the person who held him ordered. "That's enough."

Oh, he knew that voice…

Meanwhile, back outside, Valerie easily dodged Aragon's breath attack with a smirk. "Is that all you've got, lizard breath?"

The dragon attacked her with another breath, and again missed. The ghost hunter tossed one of her net grenades at him, trapping the beast's wings against his body. Aragon fell to the ground with a distinct smashing, crushing cars, bicycles and trees underneath him. His legs were not caught in the net, however, and he rose to his feet in no time.

"Foolish, damn _woman_!" Aragon hissed. He let out a loud roar that caused the surrounding buildings to shake. "You will not live to see another day!"

"Oh I don't know, ghost," Valerie continued to taunt, readying her favorite ghost bazooka. "I'm feeling more than lucky tonight."

Whatever quip Aragon wanted to say to that was interrupted by the arrival of six rather loud crows. Five started cawing around Valerie, blocking her view and certainly throwing off her aim is she tried to attack. They didn't directly attack her, just made noise and flapped their wings. The sixth crow went up to Aragon's head. It opened its beak and a voice came out, not as if the bird was speaking but as if it was playing a recorded message, or was acting as the receiver on a telephone.

"Prince Aragon! You will cease this attack immediately!"

"I'm not done yet!" Aragon declared. It was a little odd to watch him argue with a voice that was speaking via a bird. "My orders were to attack the ghost boy! That's what I'm doing!"

"Your orders have been withdrawn," the voice from the bird's beak proclaimed. "Return to the Black Palace at once. That's an order."

With that, the crow cawed to the other five. They stopped harassing Valerie and flew off, presumably to this "Black Palace" that the leader crow had mentioned. Aragon growled in vexation and let out another roar before tearing off the net and taking off to the skies himself. Valerie watched in confusion as the scene unfolded before her. What in the world was that about?

"Oh nevermind," she groaned, pushing a few buttons on her arm that connected to her ghost sensor. "The dragon was never the target anyway. Now where did that ghost boy fly off to?"

"Scanning," the computerized voice reported from her armband. "Ghost signature detected."

"Well, it might not be the ghost boy, but if it is…" Valerie said to herself. "He can't have gotten too far."

And with that, Valerie sped off through the skies on her hoverboard, leaving Tucker and Sam to watch and wonder where she was going and where Danny was.

* * *

><p>Danny thrashed against the arms holding him in place against Vlad, becoming angrier by the minute. He hadn't seen or heard from Vlad for a while, and honestly he was the last ghost he wanted to see right now. Ignoring Vlad's demands that he stop struggling, he instead lit his hands up with ghost ray punched and slammed them into the body behind him. Vlad finally released him and flew backwards to give Danny space. Danny turned around and took a battle stance again, his hands glowing with ectoplasmic power.<p>

"Stay away from me Vlad," he ordered. "I've got a fight to take care of, and I don't feel like dealing with you right now."

"Everything has to begin and end with a fight with you, does it Daniel?" Vlad teased, clicking his tongue. "And you certainly look worse for wear for it."

"Back off, Vlad," the younger stated. "I'm warning you."

"Just a few moments of your time, that's all I'm asking."

"I have a fight to finish."

"What fight might that be?" Vlad asked, pointing to a window to the outside. Sure enough, Aragon had disappeared. Danny just spotted Valerie before she took off herself. It seemed that danger had passed.

"What? What happened to—" Danny sputtered.

"Honestly Daniel, I would just like to talk," Vlad proposed. "A conversation between half-ghosts, if you will. No fighting. No insulting. Just a little chat."

"What in the world would you have to say to me?"

"Follow me and I'll tell you."

Vlad phased out of the building. Danny saw through a window that he was headed towards the planetarium, turning back for a moment to look at Danny before continuing on.

_This is a bad idea_, Danny thought to himself. _This is a trap…but, maybe he does want to _just_ talk?_

Taking a moment's pause, Danny moved to fly after him. He stopped when Vlad turned around again to see if he was following him. Seeing that he was, Vlad smiled and continued on to the planetarium.

He landed on the top of the round dome, next to the telescope. It was a beautiful view of Amity Park from there, and Vlad took a deep breath to relax himself. Although he couldn't see himself living there, Vlad had to admit that Amity Park was a fairly nice town. It was a good place to raise children, which may have been the Fenton's reasoning for moving there to begin with. Although, he'd have to say that the ghost attacks did not make it the safest place to live. Between Pariah Dark, Youngblood, Ember, countless other ghosts, and even himself on a few occasions, Amity Park definitely had the highest rate of needed city repairs compared to any other city in the United States. And yet people still remained there, trying to live normal lives…but that would change soon enough.

Sensing Danny land on the other side of the dome, Vlad brought another grin to his face. Even from this distance, he could smell the ectoplasm that was leaking from some of the young boy's wounds. Getting the sample would be easy enough, and he could possibly get ahead in his bid to lead Danny to his way of thinking at the same time. Killing two ghost pigs with one stone, as it were.

There was a flicker of something at the corner of Vlad's eye. He turned sharply to look at what it was, but saw nothing. With a shrug he turned to face the younger half-ghost, who was keeping his distance from him. Oddly enough this was a good sign; it showed that although Danny agreed to this talk, he was not being rash enough to trust his opponent that easily.

"Perhaps we shall morph to human form?" Vlad suggested. Danny scowled in response. "To put us on more even footing, hmm?"

"You can go back to human if you want," Danny said. "I'm staying ghost. I know you can do just as much damage in either human or ghost form, so excuse me for not taking that bait."

_Nevermind the fact that I don't want you seeing how beat up I am right now when I'm human_, Danny added silently.

"Ah, making sure you don't put yourself in a weaker position in front of your enemy," stated Vlad. "And you say you aren't like me."

"I'm _not_," Danny insisted. "You wanted to talk. This isn't another 'join me and I'll teach you all about your powers' speech again, is it?"

"That offer is always open to you, Daniel. You just have to take it," Vlad responded. "No, I wanted to talk about something else."

"And that would be what?" Danny asked again. "I've better things to do than talk to fruit loops all night."

Vlad was tempted to berate the boy for rudeness, but fought against it. He crossed his arms and stared at the young man for a good minute or two. He had to choose his words carefully, just as he had to do with the White Lady not too long ago. He needed to get Danny to lower his guard so he could get close enough to get some of his ectoplasm (which he was sure Danny knew was leaking out of a rather large laceration on his left side). Even in ghost form, Danny looked exhausted and overwhelmed, but if that could mean that he didn't have the energy to think clearly, which could make his words have that much more of an impact. He needed Danny on his side to make his plan work; otherwise he might as well give up on it now.

Danny, on the other hand, forced himself to not fidget in front of his arch nemesis. He did not like the expression on the older half-ghost's face…not that he normally liked the sight of Vlad, but this was worse than usual. He seemed to have a more distinct determination than Danny had ever seen before, as if he had more on his mind than just riling Danny's emotions up. He had to keep his guard up. Following Vlad had been a mistake. Why had he followed him again?

"How long do you plan to keep this up?" Vlad inquired.

"Keep what up?" Danny asked back.

"This whole 'hero' business of yours, and this secret from your parents," Vlad clarified. "I was able to keep my secret from them because I did not have contact with them after the accident. You, however, see them on a regular basis. How do you keep it a secret from Jack and Maddie?"

"It's not easy, but I guess I manage."

"What would happen if they found out about your little secret, hmm?"

"We're in the same boat, Vlad," Danny argued, eyes narrowing. "You tell them my secret and I tell them yours. And I know you don't want that."

"Of course not, my boy. We are at an impasse there," Vlad confirmed. He cleared his throat. "I meant, what would they do if they found out?"

"I told you, they would accept me for who I am," Danny contended. "They're my parents—"

"Who have every desire to 'rip the Ghost Boy apart, molecule by molecule'?" Vlad interrupted him. The younger grimaced at the phrase; he had heard that more times than he cared for. "You have this blind faith in your mother and father…particularly in your father. I wonder if they really would accept you as you say."

"They would," insisted Danny, fisting his hands. "I know them better than you do now, Plasmius. You cut ties with my dad for years, and I've been around him for the last fourteen…almost fifteen."

"Hmm, I concede that point. Then, for the sake of argument, let's say they do accept you for what you are now," the older halfa stated. "Would they understand you, I wonder?"

"Of course—"

"Would they understand how different it is being part ghost? Would they understand what changes and opportunities it would mean for you? Would they be able to help you learn about any new powers you gain?" Vlad interrupted him. He floated a little closer to Danny, staring down at the boy from above. Danny suppressed a shiver. "And believe me, Daniel, more powers _will_ come."

"What do you mean?"

Vlad gave out a chuckle. "Observe, Daniel."

With that Vlad lifted a hand, which started to glow a bright yellow color. Danny lifted his own hands in preparation to form a ghost shield, but this proved to be unnecessary. Vlad shot his hand out above them, towards the telescope, forming a bolt of lightning that sent a shockwave through the telescope and into the dome beneath them. If the two have not been flying, it certainly would have electrocuted them.

"Hey!" Danny gave out a growl. "What if someone was inside? You would have—"

"Lightning bolts are one of the more common ghost powers," Vlad interjected again. Danny sighed in annoyance; he could never get a word in with this guy. "Though not as much as ice, fire or an old-school energy blast."

Danny could understand that. He could name a number of ghosts that had some sort of elemental power: Klemper had power over ice, Ember had power over fire, and he would argue that ghosts like Technus had similar electrical powers that Vlad was currently display, although those were more like technology control rather than just electricity. Still, it made him wonder, would Danny ever gain elemental powers like that?

"I didn't gain this lightning power until I was in my early thirties," Vlad said, dragging Danny out of his thoughts. "It was quite a shock to me when it first manifested, if you will pardon the pun."

"What has that got to do with—"

"And you should have seen me when I first successfully duplicated," he continued, completely ignoring the younger man before him. "I was confused as to how to control which body part and when."

"What's your point, Vlad?" Danny finally yelled out.

Vlad, on the other hand, seemed pleased that he had managed to rile Danny up. "My point, little badger, is that you will develop new powers as well, possibly sooner rather than later. They may cause a few, shall we say, _mishaps_ that could reveal your identity to your parents."

"I know that," Danny agreed, to his surprise. "I've been there."

"As have I. I'm sure you've had arms and legs that have fallen through furniture, that you've suddenly turned invisible with your family right in front of you, or have accidentally sent out an energy blast without intending to," Vlad concurred. Danny had to suppress a blush. Yes, all of those things have happened at one point or another. "And with even more powerful abilities to come, I wonder if you will be able keep your secret."

"They notice some things," Danny admitted through his teeth. "But I've gotten good at hiding it."

"What would your mother or father think if they suddenly found a hole in your bedroom wall from where a fireball went through it?" the elder went on. "Or if everything you touched was immediately covered in a layer of ice? Or that you caused the television or phone to short-circuit?"

Danny was silent. He hadn't thought about powers like that. He had pretty much complete control over his basic powers like invisibility and intangibility, but what if he did develop something more destructive? What Vlad was describing almost made him freeze in fear. He could manage his powers now but that could change in a heartbeat, couldn't it?

Yet, Vlad had a point. Danny recalled the time when he first found out about his ghost ray. It was his first encounter with Desiree, and after attacking her he moved to give Tucker a high-five…and ended up blasting him into a mountain of cotton candy.

He suddenly remembered the fight against his evil, older self, when he showed that he had in fact gained his newest ability, his Ghostly Wail. His older version had said that he shouldn't have gotten that power for another ten years. It clearly showed that Danny was growing more powerful more quickly than expected. It went without saying that could be a problem. If he did start to exhibit other powers without the skill to contain them, he could hurt people in the process of learning about them. He could hurt his friends and family.

Would he be able to control that power, or would it control him?

Meanwhile, Vlad was smirking.

"And yet, your parent's haven't even noticed anything amiss," he continued. "It makes me wonder if they truly notice you. If they truly care."

Danny's face snapped back up to his. "They care! Don't you dare say that!"

"I dare because it is true!" Vlad insisted. "The world will not accept us for what we are, Daniel! We are more than humans now, and I can guarantee that normal people fear us because of it. And do you know what humans do to what they fear and do not understand?"

"I'm not listening!"

"They destroy it. Or experiment and test it so they can understand."

"They wouldn't do that!"

"It doesn't matter what relationship you have with your parents, Daniel. They will destroy you for what you are. You are just another ghost to them."

"That's a lie!"

"They won't understand you. They _can't _understand you. And they certainly won't listen when you try to explain."

"Not listening, I said!"

At this point Danny had lifted his hands to cover his ears, as if that would literally block out the truth of Vlad's words. He wouldn't listen to a word the man said; he never should have listened to begin with! Everything spewing from his mouth was a dirty lie! His parents would understand if he told them. He knew from the time just before he used the Reality Gauntlet to erase their memories of finding out his secret identity. He remembered their words well.

"_We love _you_, sweetie. _You._"_

"_Whether you're ghost, boy, or something in between!"_

Ghost hunters or not, they wouldn't do something as horrible as Vlad was implying to their own son. They would listen if he decided to tell them! They would!

While Danny was hiding himself in a little bubble of his own world, Vlad took the opportunity to rush the boy and slam him into the side of the telescope, pinning the younger half-ghost on his back. Danny gave out a gasp of pain as some of his injuries were pressed against the cold metal of the telescope. He looked up at the blue face above him.

"I have been through everything that you are experiencing, son. The developing powers, the uncertainty…the solitude," described Vlad. "I've experienced it all. Instead of fighting me, why not let me help you?"

So it _was_ a "join me and let me train you" tactic, though a little different from other times.

Half the time he didn't know what he was doing with his powers. Heck, it had taken him at least a month before he got something as simple as _flying_ down. And then there were all the accidents that occurred when he discovered new abilities. He found out his overshadowing power by chance during that time with Dash, for instance. Sure he had gotten better as time went on, but who knew what might happen in the future…

The stabs of agony running up and down his spine were making his head spin. Visions of a burned down bedroom wall, of a frozen solid living room, and of kitchen appliances spouting out static shocks filled eyes along with black spots from the pain. Following that, Danny could imagine accidentally sending a bolt down his father's arm when shaking hands, or burning his sister's arms when she moved to hug him, or freezing his mother's face to ice when she bent over to give him a kiss on his cheek. Whenever a new power showed up, disaster usually followed right behind. It had happened before, so why not again and again?

This wasn't fair. Vlad was _right_.

Danny turned his face back to the older ghost hybrid, grimacing at the pain and failing to conceal it.

"And…you'd help me get through it all?" he asked, still gasping.

"All my knowledge would be yours, Daniel," Vlad promised. His face softened as he realized that the boy was in fact thinking it over. "Just a few words. That is all you need to say."

Those words were suddenly lost to Danny as another vision of an older version of him entered his mind. An older, evil him, who had come into existence because he had gone to Vlad for help. It was under somewhat different circumstances, but it was very possible that it would end with the same result. He had promised his family that he wouldn't let that happen, that he wouldn't turn into that. No, as tempting as it was to accept Vlad's offer and make things easier for himself, he would stand by his principles. Nothing that Vlad could offer him would be worth that cost.

"No," Danny finally panted out. "I won't leave my parents for that."

"…Very well then," Vlad hissed, his previous expression hardening. "It is your decision after all."

In retaliation, he pushed his hand into the wound on Danny's left abdomen. The child let out a scream of anguish, and it actually hurt Vlad for a split second to have to do that to someone he considered like his son. Still, ectoplasm leaked from the newly opened gash and onto his black gloves.

As Danny lay gasping for air, trying his hardest to become intangible but unable to focus hard enough to do so, Vlad leaned down.

"You will feel the cold blade of betrayal soon enough, Daniel," he whispered into the boy's ear. "And when you do, I will be waiting."

He released Danny from his hold and shifted to invisibility. Danny grunted as he fell on his bottom onto the dome right beneath him, grabbing his injured side in hopes to stop the oozing ectoplasm. Having tried to keep himself in ghost form for as long as he could, Danny finally shifted back to Fenton. There was a gasp and the caw of a crow in the distance, but Danny didn't care. He just didn't have the energy anymore.

Danny closed his eyes against the pain and leaned his head back. Taking deep breaths, he willed his head to stop spinning so much. He wanted nothing more than to go home and lay down. What was supposed to be a relaxing evening had turned out to be the exact opposite. No surprise, it was the story of his life. Danny could never get a break.

Hoping that he still had enough energy to at least fly back to the theater, Danny went ghost again, rose from his spot and slowly floated down from the planetarium. He flew as stealthily as he could back to the movie theater (he certainly didn't have the energy to turn invisible), and returned to human form again just outside the entrance by an alley.

It took Danny a minute to walk on foot to the area where the fight with Aragon and Valerie had taken place. Once he arrived, he glanced around. That relatively small fight had done quite a bit of damage. Cars had been smashed and turned over, store windows were broken, streetlights were broken and bent into the streets below, and a fire hydrant had been busted open and was spraying water everywhere. The police had already arrived on the scene; they had warded off the area with yellow police tape and were interviewing some of the people at the scene.

Danny turned when he heard his name called. It was Tucker and Sam of course; once they saw him they immediately turned him around and started to push him in the opposite direction.

"The police are taking statements," Tucker told him. "They're checking to see if anyone's hurt."

Taking note of the obvious warning to stay away from the scene (Danny wouldn't know what he would do if one of the cops reported him injured the way he was, or if god forbid they try to take him to a hospital), he didn't stop his best friends from directing him home. To be completely honest, all he wanted was to go to bed.

The trio was completely unaware of two sets of eyes, one pair red and the other green, watching them as they headed to Fenton Works.

* * *

><p>Jazz was sitting on the couch in the Fenton living room, reading one of her books on ghost envy. She was about to enter her senior year of high school, and just could not get her mind off her college entrance thesis. After all, with excellent schools like Harvard, Yale and Stanford as her options, she did not want to lose any chance at a good opportunity.<p>

Problem was, she was greatly distracted from her thesis with the battles her younger brother had been in recently. The past week had been brutal as far as ghost attacks go. She had counted at least thirty-six attacks in the past week alone, and those were just the ones she witnessed at school or near home; she was sure the true number was greater than that, since she did not spend every waking moment of her day following Danny around like his two best friends did. She was needed at home, because she was able to come up with multiple excuses for why Danny wasn't home to prevent their parents from getting suspicious.

It was actually kind of funny. She recalled the time when she was a complete skeptic about ghost; she did not believe a word that came out of either her father's or her mother's mouths about the subject. At the mere mention of ghosts she would roll her eyes and tune the subject out (usually because it was in the form of her father babbling). Even when she saw a ghost she would cop it up to being extremely tired from her studies and that she was seeing things. It took something as reality-blowing as seeing her own brother turn into a ghost that finally convinced her that her family was not as crazy as she thought.

And now here she was, reading and taking notes from a book focusing on how ghosts should not be the center of one's universe. What had the world come to?

Jazz's reading was interrupted by the arrival of the ghost-fighting trio. Danny almost literally stumbled through the doorway and immediately sat himself in the closest chair, and Sam and Tucker were not far behind. The red-head immediate sprang up from her seat, her book forgotten, and rushed to her brother.

"Another ghost attack?" she asked.

"That, plus Valerie and Plasmius," Danny explained. "Almost all at the same time."

"Let's get you upstairs," Jazz practically ordered, lifting Danny up from his seat and getting the most resistance she had ever felt from her brother. "I'll get the first aid kit."

Danny's two friends and sister helped him hobble up the stairs to his bedroom. Jazz took a detour to the bathroom where the Fenton Ghost First Aid Kit was kept (another dumb name, because it suggested that it was first aid _for_ a ghost rather than to treat the injuries inflicted _by_ a ghost) and returned to her brother. Sam and Tucker helped him lay down on his back, exposing his lacerated side. The bleeding was red now, since he was back in human form.

Seeing that it was now incredibly late at night, Sam and Tucker had to leave for their respective homes. Knowing that Danny was in good hands with Jazz around, they reluctantly left, with Tucker grumbling something about "stupid curfews" under his breath. They made sure to shut the door firmly behind them.

"Luckily Mom and Dad are busy down in the lab so they didn't see you come in," Jazz commented as she started to carefully clean her brother's wounds. "A ghost, Plasmius _and _Valerie?"

"Aragon actually," Danny said with a painful groan. "The one that looks like a giant black dragon."

"After the week you've had, that's the last thing you needed," she muttered. She stopped wiping the blood away and took out the antibiotic ointment. "This is going to sting. Danny, these attacks are just getting worse."

"Don't need to tell me," the boy grumbled, gasping as Jazz added the ointment as carefully as she could. "I'm the one fighting them, remember? Most of the time on my own."

Jazz finished with the ointment and put it back in the kit. She started to pull out the gauze and bandages but paused. "Danny, I think…maybe you should tell Mom and Dad now?"

"What?"

"Think about it. With all the ghost gear they make—much of which you have used at one point or another—could all really help you out if they knew," Jazz argued. She started to wrap the bandages, forcing Danny to sit up so she could do so properly. "Think about what they could make if they knew exactly what it was for…now that most of their gadgets actually work anyway."

"I can't take the risk," Danny debated. "What if they decide they want to—?"

"You _know _they won't do anything to hurt you, Danny," his sister insisted. "I know about the whole thing with Freakshow and the Reality Gauntlet, remember? You didn't modify my memories. They said they didn't care about it then. Why would it be different now?"

_Because if they knew that I could really hurt them, would they be as accepting?_ Danny thought to himself, the entire ordeal with Vlad still fresh in his mind. He didn't say anything in response though.

Jazz took his silence as the end of the conversation. She finished up with the bandaging and then helped Danny lie back on his bed.

"Just think about it, okay? Are you hungry?" she asked. When he shook his head no, she got up and started to head for the door. "I'm just in my room if you need anything. Love you, little bro."

"Thanks, Jazz."

With his sister's departure, Danny was left to his thoughts. Jazz had been right; he knew his parents would accept him as he was if he told them. She had told him about how they admitted to being confused and upset that he kept his ghost self a secret from them, back when they were being held prisoner by Freakshow. They just needed some time to get used to the idea, she said, and they had realized that him being half-ghost didn't matter in the end. It had been a few months since those events had "happened," though they were now erased from reality, but surely they would still believe that?

But Vlad's words kept running in and out of his mind, repeating facts and problems he was very well aware of. The idea that his ghost powers could get out of control and hurt his loved ones was, honestly, one of the things he feared the most. He never wanted anything involving his ghost half to be the reason their lives were in danger. If he did develop new powers and his inability to manage them properly caused them harm (or worse yet, killed them), Danny would never be able to forgive himself.

On the other hand, if his parents knew ahead of time what he was capable of they could be prepared for it. They could build more badly-named devices that could shut off his powers temporarily or reduce their effects until he got them back under control (his experience with Vlad's Plasmius Maximus quickly came to his mind). At the very least, they would reinforce the house so that any out-of-control powers would not cause as much damage. And since he knew that his mom and dad would accept him, would it really be such a bad idea to tell them? If nothing else, it would be one less secret (one less _big_ secret) he would have to keep.

Danny sat up, gasping quite a bit from the pain that such movement brought, but forced himself to stand and head for his bedroom door. Jazz had said that Jack and Maddie were in the lab, right? He would do it. Now. He was going to tell them.

He slowly made his way down the stairs (wasn't just a little while ago that he needed help to get _up_ these darn things?) to the first floor, then headed to the door that led to the lab in the basement. Danny kept going over the many ways he could start this conversation in his head, and none of them seemed very appealing…or even very intelligent.

_How do you even bring something like this up? 'Hi Mom, Dad. Guess what? Remember that accident I had almost a year ago with the ghost portal?'_ He grumbled to himself. '_Well, it actually made me half-ghost, and I've been flying around like a superhero fighting ghost bad guys! Sorry to keep you out of the loop!' Yeah, great idea, Fenton._

Danny's steps slowed to a crawl as he reached the bottom of the staircase, and the sight of his parents experimenting again came into view. He could almost feel his blood freeze and the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Jack was brandishing his one of his new Fenton Bazookas and was perfecting his aim at some of the wooden ghost targets that would spring up from various parts of the room. Danny had used these on multiple occasions when he was training with his own ghost rays, but to see his own father using them for a similar purpose was a bit disconcerting.

Six fake targets were destroyed before Jack put the bazooka down, coolly blowing the smoke coming out of the barrel and giving a huge grin to his wife.

"See, Maddie? My aim's getting better," he boasted. "I could take down that ghost boy anytime now!"

"You _are_ improving, dear," Maddie added to her husband's pride, only to shoot it down again with her next statement. "But remember that you need to keep him alive…intact…you know what I mean…if you want to try out that Anatomizer we've been working on."

"That baby's almost done, Mads. I should be done with it in a week, if that!" Jack boosted himself back up again with no problem. He then spotted Danny at the doorway through the corner of his eye. "Hey there, son! How was movie night?"

It was so casual, so normal, as if what Jack had been doing moments ago had absolutely no effect on the now. One minute his mind was on fighting and destroying ghosts, specifically Danny's ghost version, and not a second passed before Jack switched to being his dad. How could he rock back and forth between the two personalities so quickly?

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Maddie asked her son, taking a step towards him. He forced himself not to move away. "You look worn out."

"…I'm fine. Movie was good. Just tired. First week of school, you know," Danny stammered. Great, he was reduced to sentences of up to six words. He cleared his throat. "Just wanted to let you know I was home and I'm going to bed."

Maddie gave him a big smile. "Well, get a good night's sleep, hon. You still have school tomorrow."

"Right, don't remind me."

Danny said his final goodnights to his parents and then trudged back up the two flights of stairs to his bedroom. So much for that. He just completely lost all of his resolve and confidence with the sight of his dad handling that bazooka. Understandable really, considering that he had been on the receiving end of that weapon on more than one occasion. The fact that his father was getting better at using it (under Maddie's strict guidance, no doubt) just made the whole thing more unsettling. He had to give his parents credit: they were both enthusiastic and persistent.

Danny fell into bed with another groan, careful to not press too hard against his bandages. He pulled his shoes off roughly and snuck under his covers, not bothering to change out of his jeans and shirt. He just didn't have the energy.

Maybe the conversation with Vlad was still too fresh in his mind. Maybe he was still worried about how his parents would react this time around to his revealing his secret to them. Maybe he was just in pain. Maybe he was just tired. Or maybe it was a combination of all these things. Whatever it was, now was not the time to be talking to anyone about anything related to ghosts.

But if now wasn't the time, when would that time come?

The young half-ghost had a sudden feeling of being watched. He cracked his eyes open one last time to look out his window. He could see the wispiness of a humanoid form and the sparkles of something red and something green. Vlad had red eyes…wonderful, now the fruit loop was watching him while he slept.

"I really don't want to deal with you right now, Vlad," Danny whispered, although it was likely that Vlad couldn't hear him. "Let me sleep and bug me some other time."

With that Danny closed his eyes to actually fall asleep this time. The ghost outside took one last look at him and then vanished from sight.


	5. Forewarnings

**A/N:** Yep, long time since last updated, but school will do that to you. We finally get a revelation and continued plot in this chapter, though not a lot of action.

I'd also like to thank a reviewer, MsFrizzle, who mentioned that stories with summaries that mention "new kid at school" characters are usually glossed over but gave this one a chance anyway. Thank you, that is awesome! I'm usually pretty suspicious of such stories as well, but I'm actively trying to not have Abby steal the spotlight. Everyone, please let me know if you think I'm failing at this. Although she will play an important role, she is not going to be the one responsible for saving the day. We know whose job _that_ is, right?

Also, I would like to reassure my beta about a concern of hers (and just in case anyone else has thought of it): Abby is not the White Lady in disguise, nor is she related to the White Lady in any way, shape or form.

Thank you all again! Now enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p>It had been centuries since the White Lady last left the Black Palace, and this was not the place she expected she would want to visit first.<p>

She stared up at the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. From what she knew of history (which was an odd thing to say, considering that she was _part_ of that history) and what she heard more recently from her crows, it was obvious what was inside it.

When she first heard from her crows that the King of All Ghosts had been released from his prison, she felt like she could have passed away again. It had terrified her. The White Lady's first thoughts were focused solely on what she would do if the Ghost King came for her at the Black Palace. She could have fought him of course, but that had not gone well the first time over. She was nowhere near as powerful as he had been, even without the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage in his possession, and her Enthrall ability had absolutely no effect on him. His own will was far too strong for it to have any effect on him. Of course, once he got a hold on her Orb of Mental Will there was nothing she could do against him. She didn't want to think about what would happen to her if the orb fell into the wrong hands again.

It wasn't so much about him ruling over the Ghost Zone that she had a problem with. That would be rather hypocritical, because she was helping Plasmius try to accomplish the same thing. It had more to do with _how_ he was going about it: Vlad was more interested in ruling with his power, while Pariah had ruled through destruction. Both worked through force, but it was a different kind between the two of them.

It was easy to see the results of this difference. Vlad was free to do as he pleased, and Pariah Dark lay in eternal slumber inside his tomb.

Despite this knowledge it was a little hard for her to imagine that Pariah Dark had in fact been sealed inside once again, the Ring of Rage snug on his thick finger. She hated that thing. She had worn it herself for a while, and her fingers twitched at the thought of touching it again. She would leave it right where it was if it was her choice. But if Plasmius was going to become the new Ghost King, he would need it. He had the Crown of Fire already and he was working on the boy of the prophecy, so this was the next step. After that it was up to Technus to get his machines working, which the White Lady did not even try to understand. That kind of technology did not exist when she was alive, and even in death it went right over her head.

The White Lady hadn't realized how long she had been staring at the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep until she heard a throat clear behind her. She turned her head slightly to see the Fright Knight standing next to his steed, Nightmare. He had given her a ride to Pariah's Keep and left her to think at her request. Apparently enough time passed that he had grown concerned, if the expression in his eyes behind his helmet were any indication. …The Fright Knight was concerned?

"What troubles you, mi'lady?" he asked in his deep voice.

"I wonder how I am going to get the Ring of Rage from this Sarcophagus without awakening Pariah Dark again," she replied, turning back to the coffin and scowling. "If it were up to me, we wouldn't bother with it."

"Plasmius needs it to make a claim as Ghost King, you know that," said the Fright Knight. "There must be a way. We just need to think on it more."

The White Lady did not reply to that. She turned around back to him and started to walk away from the Sarcophagus and towards Nightmare. The Pegasus whinnied as she approached and stroked his nose.

"Do you regret what happened, all those centuries ago?" she asked the Fright Knight.

"It is hard to not regret something that you are forced to do," he replied, standing completely still. "And only worse when the tales about it are changed after so long."

"Such as our unwillingness to work for Pariah," the White Lady confirmed. "I would have been happy to stay out of the war entirely if he had left my orb alone."

"I've never understood why you agreed to work for him," the Fight Knight admitted. "I know it has to do with the Orb of Mental Will, but how could he use that against you? Why not just destroy it so that the Ghost King had no hold over you?"

"It had more to do with how Pariah could have used it…_did_ use it. You remember what happened to Gabriel?" she reminded him. He nodded. Gabriel had been controlled with the Orb of Mental Will, forced to do the Ghost King's bidding. It was worse in that he was one of the most powerful ghosts in the Ghost Zone. In fact, he eventually became one of the seven that sealed Pariah Dark away the first time around, once he was freed from the orb's control. "And the orb is the last part of me that I have from when I was alive. I couldn't part with it willingly."

"And yet, you are allowing Plasmius to use it on the ghost boy," the Fright Knight criticized.

"If he is the one from the prophecy, then we need him to cooperate with us," the White Lady argued. "If he does not do so willingly, then we will have to use the orb."

"_If_ he doesn't cooperate."

"Yes,_ if_. …I think I'm done here, Fright Knight," the White Lady said at last. "Would you be so kind as to let me ride your steed?

"Of course, mi'lady," he answered politely. He held his hand out to her. "Allow me to assist you."

The White Lady smiled in appreciation and took his hand. He hoisted her up onto the front of Nightmare's saddle before joining her in the back. Nightmare took off at a gallop and with a flap of his wings, took to the air. Wind blew past the White Lady's long snowy, making it fly everywhere. As they flew back to the Black Palace, she turned her head to look at the Fright Knight's deep green eyes.

"I have my reasons for obeying Pariah Dark," she told him, her voice lost somewhat in the blowing wind and flapping of wings. "What was your reason?"

"In the beginning, I agreed with his harsh rule. The Ghost Zone does need a ruler, after all," the Fright Knight replied. "There were so many things he said he would do to better our world. By the time I realized that he would rather destroy the Ghost Zone than have someone else rule it, I was in too deep."

The White Lady could understand that. How many times did Pariah Dark promise her something and then not keep it? So many empty promises…so many empty words…There was only one thing she truly wanted for herself. He promised her, but did not deliver. The Fright Knight must have been the same.

"You worked for him when he was released not so long ago though," the White Lady commented.

"I pretended to work for him again," he responded. He broke his gaze away from hers. "Plasmius had a better offer."

Of course he did. He offered the White Lady a better deal as well. All she wanted was her own peace. If Plasmius could give her that, she would fight the angels themselves.

"I have heard of this prophecy many times, and I am sure the first time was just after Pariah Dark's first defeat," the Fight Knight added. "However, over time I have forgotten what it says exactly. Do you recall it?"

"Not from my memory, no," she confessed, finally looking back up at the Knight. "I intend to visit the Ghostwriter in the next day or so."

"And you will let us know the details when you know them."

"Of course."

* * *

><p>Kitty drove her boyfriend's bike back towards the Ghostwriter's manor. She had just checked the Fenton Ghost Portal again, from this side of the gateway. By the time she had gotten there the first time a few days ago, the door had been shut and guarded by a number of Plasmius' medieval ghost guards. This had been the seventh day she checked to see if maybe the ghosts would let their guard down and allow her to plow through. This had not been the case however, and there was no way she could get near it without being attacked, even if the portal was open.<p>

She was starting to lose hope that they were going to be able to get to the human world through the Fenton Portal. She and her comrades had lost their window of opportunity after the White Lady had Enthralled Johnny and the others. Of course, chances were high that Vlad and the White Lady planned ahead and had guards at the portal before the meeting at court anyway, so it may have not mattered anyway.

Kitty's first stop after she had escaped from the Black Palace with Johnny's bike was the Ghostwriter's manor. From there the two of them called out to as many ghosts in the Ghost Zone as they could. Kitty checked on the portal while Ghostwriter waited for any response.

All of this ended up in vain, for the most part. As stated before, the Fenton Portal was guarded very well. As for any recruits to help against Vlad, the only one who managed to get to the manor was Dora, and even she had bad news. Aragon had escaped from her castle dungeons and took up residence at the Black Palace. In his escape, he managed to burn down most of the castle and the residents there scattered to various areas of the Ghost Zone. Apparently, he had become unhinged while imprisoned and decided that if he wasn't going to rule over that kingdom (or queendom, as Dora had made it) then he didn't want anyone else to.

The good news about Dora being able to meet with them was that she had her crystal ball ring with her. Exactly how that thing stayed on her hand or wasn't chipped and broken from knocking into lots of things, Kitty will never understand. At first she did not see any significance to it, but the fact that she had that crystal ball ended up being a very useful stroke of luck. Why? For some bizarre reason, it could connect to Sidney PoinDexter's mirror.

PoinDexter had first tried to contact Phantom himself using his half of the mirror. The entire affair where the two of them switched bodies was possible because of those two mirrors, after all. He had hoped that he would be able to talk to Danny with it, but he was out of luck. The mirror just showed swirling blackness. The only explanation was that the corresponding mirror in the human world had been destroyed. When PoinDexter thought about it, it was obvious that Phantom must have smashed it after he returned to his own body.

When that failed PoinDexter went for the long shot: contacting anyone else who had items compatible with his ghost mirror. And Dora's ring had been the only thing that worked so far. Her thoughts were that since both items had either been in the human world or had a connection to it, then they had a common thread that allowed them to speak. PoinDexter told her the situation, and she was more than willing to try and help. Dora never admitted it, but she did have a soft spot for the little nerdy ghost. Who else would she have let ride on her back when they fought Pariah Dark's forces the first time around? He was not the most powerful ghost around of course, but had at least had a respect for women, which Dora certainly appreciated.

So, when PoinDexter had finished telling her what had transpired at the Black Palace she rushed to the Ghostwriter's mansion, and it was there that she was able to meet up with Kitty and the Ghostwriter himself.

Kitty rammed through the doors to the mansion and put the brakes on just in time to not run into the Ghostwriter's new ghost keyboard. He had reprimanded her the first few times Kitty had done that, but after a while he gave up. The biker girl was going to do whatever she pleased, and with his search for details about the prophecy he didn't have the time to keep "harping at her" as Kitty had put it.

Dora was talking to PoinDexter through her crystal when Kitty came riding in. He had just told her that the White Lady had left the Black Palace for the first time in centuries. Apparently she was returning to Pariah's Keep, although he couldn't find out what she was hoping to find there.

"Will she be returning soon?" Dora as him as Kitty shut off the ignition. "Do you think you can get out while she is away?"

"I don't know when she's coming back, but she's been gone for a while so maybe pretty soon," PoinDexter said, only his face showing in her ring. "And there's no way we can get out. Guards are everywhere, and I don't want to get near those dogs of hers."

Dora glanced up at Kitty, who had approached the two to join the conversation. "Is the portal still guarded?"

"Yeah, we can't get through," the green-haired ghost reported. There was a bang from one of the bookcases where the Ghostwriter was searching for a book. "I don't think there's any way we can use it anytime soon."

"And of course with Plasmius guarding his own portal, we're stuck here until a natural portal opens," PoinDexter explained. "And who knows when that'll be."

There was another bang from the Ghostwriter. Dora sighed. "Any news about Plasmius?"

"He's left the Black Palace too," PoinDexter told her. "He said he was going to go talk to Phantom."

"Great! They're starting that part of the plan already!" Kitty moaned. "I feel so helpless."

"Don't worry, Kitty. You know Sir Phantom well," Dora comforted her. "He can handle anything that Plasmius does to him. And he is immune to the White Lady's Enthrall spell."

"He is?"

"Yeah, I was just telling Dora," PoinDexter said, his voice just slightly muffled in the crystal ball. "The White Lady says that the halfa's will is too strong for her spell to work."

"Considering his power, I am hardly surprised," Dora said. "See, Kitty? There is still hope."

"...Johnny's will was not strong enough to fight it, and neither were Skulker, Walker or Ember," Kitty said, looking down. "But that's why they want to use the Orb of Mental Will. And if _that_ works on Phantom…"

There was another bang from the back bookcases. PoinDexter frowned. "What in the Ghost Zone was that?"

"The Ghostwriter's been searching his archives for any information regarding the prophecy from Pariah's time," Dora explained. "That way, maybe we can make sure it doesn't happen. At least, not in the way Plasmius is planning."

"Ghostwriter!" Kitty called to the back. "Find anything?!"

"Not yet!"

"You've lived here for who knows how long and you can't find something as important as that?"

"I'm an author, not a librarian!" the Ghostwriter protested, coming out from behind his bookcases. "And this library is older than I am. This prophecy goes way before my time here."

"Besides the White Lady and the Fright Knight, who _is_ old enough to know what the prophecy says, anyway?" Dora could hear Youngblood complaining on the other end of the crystal ball-mirror connection. She chuckled.

"I can think of one," the Ghostwriter said.

"You mean Clockwork?" PoinDexter asked. "Yeah, _you_ can go ask him about a time period that I bet he'd prefer to forget about."

"PoinDexter's right," Dora agreed. "Asking Clockwork would just open old wounds. We should leave that as our last resort."

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Kitty wondered, listing their problems off on her fingers. "Still no contact with the human world, can't get to the orb without fighting against an entire army, and we still have no clue what this prophecy says."

"I'll keep looking," mumbled the Ghostwriter, returning to his many, many books.

"I would suggest that we wait for a natural portal to the human world to open," Dora voiced. "But as PoinDexter has said, I suspect that would take too long. By the time we know a portal is open it may be too late to speak with Sir Phantom before Plasmius does, if he hasn't already."

"Is there _anyone _else we can turn to for help?" PoinDexter wondered.

"Makes me wish Danny hadn't destroyed that gadget Johnny had on his bike that let us open our own portals," Kitty groaned in frustration. "I'm sick of playing the waiting game."

"I found it!" Ghostwriter proclaimed. He flew over the other bookcases with a giant tomb in his arms. "_A Reference Guide to Prophecies_. I should've guessed."

The Ghostwriter slammed the book on his desk and opened it. Kitty and Dora gathered around, with Dora hold her crystal ball ring so that PoinDexter could see at least some of the book. They read the relatively short passage once, twice and a third time. Kitty's head cocked to the side as she tried to understand what the prophecy meant, but Dora seemed to understand at least part of it.

"The first two statements have already happened," the dragon woman explained. "So the next two statements are what are coming."

"If this prophecy is even going to come true," PoinDexter mentioned through the ring. "It's pretty vague. Are you sure it's referring to the halfa?"

"Prophecies by nature are vague," Ghostwriter explained. "That's why they're always open to interpretation."

"Do you think this one—" Kitty began, but was interrupted by a loud band that came from the entry door. The three ghosts froze in place, staring at the door. Kitty looked at the Ghostwriter out of the corner of the eye. "I thought you said you had some sort of shield up."

"I do," he replied, then thought better of it. "Or at least, I did."

Another bang came from outside. The Ghostwriter put a finger up to his lips to tell the ladies to be quiet, and then pointed to Johnny's bike that was still parked in the center of the room. Kitty, taking the hint, slowly moved to reach the bike. Afraid to turn it on and alert the outside presence that there was someone inside the manor, she pushed it to the side and around the desk. Dora shut off the connection to PoinDexter and followed her.

There was another bang and the doors flung open. A burst of golden smoke entered the manor, filling the ghosts' sight. The Ghostwriter lifted his hands to his keyboard and begun to type.

"Clear this nasty smoke that brings tears to my eyes," he typed as quickly as he could. "So I can see, are these ghosts foes or allies?"

On command, the smoke separated out, heading for the nearby windows and leaving the manor clear. Whether this was a good or a bad thing was up for debate, for the intruders were now in the open and were obviously no friend of the Ghostwriter. Ten ghosts who appeared to be made out of silver and copper entered the manor, throwing books around and crashing shelves to the ground. Candlesticks fell from the walls, setting a few of the books alight. This filled the room with a different kind of smoke, but there was still enough visibility to see the lead ghost who had now entered the room.

He was as tall as the Ghostwriter, although certainly not as thin. He wore a deep velvet cloak, no shirt and long silk trousers. His skin gleamed a bright gold color, and on his chest was a pattern of a spiral made up of the currencies of different nations in the human world, including America, Europe, and parts of Asia. His hair appeared to more solid than normal hair, as if it was made for a statue rather than a person, and was the color of bright copper brown. His eyes were the most striking: one was the color of emerald green and other was the color of a bright ruby. This ghost carried himself regally, and crossed his arms as he smirked at the three ghosts before him.

The Ghostwriter closed his eyes as a few ghosts sped past him to try and catch Kitty and Dora behind him. Kitty started the ignition on Johnny's bike and practically pulled Dora onto it behind her. Skids marks were left in the bike's wake as she revved the engine and drove to the back of the manor. She did not know the Ghostwriter's manor that well, but surely there was another exit where she could avoid the invading ghosts.

"Here I will stay to battle against this knight," Kitty heard the Ghostwriter's voice echo through the manor. "Conjure a door nearby, to aid in their flight."

On cue, a door phased into existence at the end of an adjacent. Kitty told Dora to hold on tight as she swerved to head for it. Understanding the Ghostwriter's statement that he would hold off the leading ghost, she floored the accelerator on the bike as hard as she could. It was good that she was used to driving crazy when Johnny was around, or Kitty would never have the guts to drive as fast as she was. A few of the silver and copper colored ghosts from before flew to the front to block her way. Oh great.

"Hold on," Dora said, slowly and shakily standing on the bike seat behind Kitty.

Kitty glanced up and saw that Dora's eyes had become vertical slits, as they did right before she was about to transform into her dragon shape. Dora took a deep breath and, releasing it, spewed out a stream of fire towards the ghosts blocking their way. The ghost appeared to melt and then solidify again, as if their forms were in fact made of silver and copper metals. Dora sat down again and the pair burst through the created door and out of the manor. Dora turned to look and saw how the manor was engulfed in flames.

"I pray that the Ghostwriter is okay," she whispered.

If Kitty heard her, she did not indicate it. Kitty did not slow Johnny's bike down until the Ghostwriter's manor was well out of sight. When she did finally decelerate a little she took a big breath and sighed, both out of relief and frustration. She turned her head to look at Dora again.

"I didn't know you could do that in your normal form," Kitty said.

"I don't very often," Dora admitted sheepishly. "It's not very ladylike."

"Nevermind ladylike, that was awesome!" the biker girl complimented, and smiled at Dora's blush. "Do you know who that ghost was?"

"I've only heard about him," Dora replied. "He's one of the most ancient ghosts that have ever been. His name is—"

* * *

><p>"—Dinero," Ghostwriter stated, looking at the ghost in front of him. "You are burning my works."<p>

"A true loss for the Ghost Zone, I'm sure," Dinero, the ghost made of gold and gemstones proclaimed. He strode arrogantly to the Ghostwriter's desk and took a look at the _A Reference Guide to Prophecies_ tome that the three other ghosts had been looking at earlier. "But the one that truly matters is still in one piece."

"I can guess why you attacked us, Dinero," Ghostwriter said, stopping his struggles against the other ghosts that held him still.

"You did not respond to the White Lady's summons to court," Dinero replied as he shut the book and tucked it under his arm. "Such a wasted honor. I'm afraid my invitation was lost."

"Lost on purpose, I would say."

"Indeed, after all it was my sin brother that upset the White Lady so long ago," Dinero concurred. "But you and the prophecy will be a show of integrity, and I will be welcomed into the ranks of the new Ghost King."

"That's not the only thing, I'd wager," Ghostwriter pressed.

"No, it's not," answered Dinero. "But you don't need to know about that."

* * *

><p>"So this Dinero is in the same league as Pariah Dark?" Kitty asked.<p>

"Perhaps not as powerful," Dora corrected what she just told Kitty. "But he is one of the ancient ghosts that were in cohorts with Pariah Dark when he ruled for the first time. He is a force to be reckoned with."

"So he has enough strength and influences that if he joins up with Plasmius…"

"Exactly."

"We were already up against something pretty powerful as it was," Kitty replied. "And now we've got another one _and_ we've lost the Ghostwriter. Great."

"At least we now know the prophecy that Plasmius is so focused on," the dragon in human form told her. "And we know that it _might_ in fact refer to Sir Phantom."

"Well, you know what we got to do now?" the biker girl asked.

Dora gave a nod. "We must find a natural portal to the human world, even if we have to search day and night to find one. It's just too bad we can't make our own ghost portal like Plasmius or the Fentons have."

"Make our own portal…"

Kitty slowed the bike down to a stop, which is the opposite of what Dora was expecting her to do. Dora cocked her head in confusion when Kitty slapped her forehead with her hand.

"I am such an _idiot_!"

"What?"

"I spent a few days in Walker's prison before, and I remember him talking about a wolf ghost that can rip portals open with his claws," Kitty explained. "We just need to find him."

"One moment, Kitty," Dora said. She lifted her crystal ball ring and waved her hand over it. Inside the vision of a black, hulking lupine form wearing a bright green outfit appeared. He was leaping through trees and slashing at vine. Dora could see that with each swipe of his claws, a small hole could be seen, with the living world beyond it. Dora lowered her ring to show Kitty. "Is this him?"

"Yes, that's him!"

"It looks like he is at Skulker's Island. We better reach him before anyone else realizes he's there."

"I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner," Kitty kicked herself as she sped the bike up again, Dora tightening her grip on her waist.

* * *

><p>Vlad smiled with glee as he dripped the green ectoplasm from his glove onto the Orb of Mental Will, still sitting on the throne of the Black Castle where he had made his new ghost home. His mission had been more than successful. Not only did he get some of Danny's ectoplasm to place into the orb, but he also planted the seed of doubt in the young ghost boy's mind.<p>

"Now that is finished," he said, replacing the glove back onto his hand and watching Danny's ectoplasm swirl within the orb. He turned to the Fright Knight. "Any news from Technus?"

"Yes, my lord. He says that he has almost completed the first machine and that it will be ready for installation in the human world within a few days' time," the dark knight replied. "Desiree also reports that she has almost gathered up enough of her wishing magic to make the machine fully functional."

"Then, so far, everything is going according to plan," Vlad confirmed.

"Yes, mi'lord."

Yes, Vlad had every right to smile the way he was.

He turned to the White Lady, who was standing off to the side and staring off into empty space. He two dogs sat patiently at her side, watching her as if making sure that she was not startled or moved from her spot unless she wanted to be moved. Vlad noticed that she did that frequently, as if hearing something that the other ghosts around her couldn't. Her face would also form a sorrowful expression, and he was sure that he saw tears glistening from her cloudy green eyes a few times. What in the Ghost Zone was she hearing that made her so sad? Especially when the plan was going so well that she should have been filled with as much joy as him?

"My Lady?" Vlad called out to her. She did not respond the first time, but the second time he called her name the White Lady moved her gaze back to Vlad. The sorrow in her face dissipated and she looked at him with curiosity. "When will I be able to use the Orb of Mental Will to command Daniel?"

"It will take a day or two for the ectoplasm to settle within the orb," she explained. "After that, he should be susceptible to your commands."

"And you said he will be willing to follow my orders?" he asked.

"Yes. That is the greatest difference between the orb's power and my Enthrall spell," the White Lady said with a nod. "An enthralled ghost has no willpower, while a ghost under the influence of the orb will still be able to think for himself but will obey commands."

"So I will not be controlling Daniel's thoughts," Vlad reiterated to make sure he understood. "But I will be able to push him towards my way of thinking."

"Exactly so," she confirmed. She crossed her arms over her chest. "I eagerly await the day that I get to meet young Phantom face to face."

"The child is something else," Vlad said, still smiling. "I assure you of that."

"Anyone who can defeat Pariah Dark has my esteem already," she answered.

"That reminds me, mi'lady," the Fright Knight interjected. "Lord Plasmius, the White Lady wishes to visit the Ghostwriter tomorrow. She wishes to confirm exactly what the prophecy written after Lord Pariah's first defeat says, and whether or not it does in fact apply to Phantom."

"Neither of you remember what the prophecy says?" Vlad wondered. "But you two were there during the time it was foretold."

"The Fright Knight was not there when it was recorded, and does not recall what it says word for word," the White Lady described in response. "And I had isolated myself in my castle here by that time, so I have only heard it second hand."

"Truly? I myself have only read what books have said as far as interpretation goes, but I have not read the prophecy itself," Vlad responded to the knight. He turned to the White Lady and offered her his hand. "Would you like me to go with you?"

"Yes, as we both wish to know the exact wording," she agreed.

"That will not be necessary, White Lady," a voice echoed from the entry hallway.

The three ghosts spun to face the opening doors that lead to the throne room they all stood in. In strode a ghost of a young appearance but anyone with any knowledge of the ancient ghosts would know that he was one of the oldest. His skin shone like gold and the gemstones on his chest and in his eyes sparkled in the blue flames of the torches lining the walls. He was followed by no less than twenty henchmen ghosts, all who looked like they could have been statues molded from silver or copper. Under his arm, Dinero carried a large book with faded leather binding and deep yellow pages.

Dinero gave a deep bow to the three ghosts before him, and then focused on Vlad when he rose.

"Greetings, Lord Plasmius. My name is Dinero," the ghost proclaimed. "I understand that you are striving to become the new Ghost King."

"I am, and I have heard of you, Dinero," Vlad replied. He saw the White Lady stiffen out of the corner of his eye when the ghost introduced himself. "You are one of the ancient ghosts, the ones that the humans call demons, who were allied with Pariah Dark during his first rule."

"Good to know that the new Ghost King knows his history," Dinero complimented. "I apologize for not appearing at court during your initial summons. It would appear that my invitation was lost somehow."

"I did not send one of my crows to you," the White Lady argued.

"That would explain that issue then."

"I had no wish to have you there."

"Understandable, my lady. I know you suffered greatly under the rule of my sin brother," Dinero consoled. "That is why I wish to make amends. Lord Plasmius, I bring you two gifts."

Dinero stood aside, allowing two of his statue henchmen to bring forth Ghostwriter, held by heavy, metal chains. They threw him to the ground, with his knees catching him. Ghostwriter looked up into Vlad's eyes, but nothing betrayed his expression.

"And the second gift, my new king," Dinero continued, opening the book he carried to a specific page and handing it to the Wisconsin Ghost. "The prophecy as it was foretold during my earlier years."

Vlad was about to take a look at the book's pages when he was tugged away by the White Lady. He allowed her to lead him away, and was a little surprised when Dinero just smiled and didn't comment.

"Lord Plasmius, please do not trust this one," she said, her tone nearly begging. "He is no better than Pariah was, and we do not need his help."

"I understand your concerns, my lady, but I must disagree. Who am I to turn away one who brings more details about the prophecy to me willingly?" Vlad argued. "We could use all the help we can get, and one of the ancient ghosts would be a great help."

"I partly wish that we saved my orb to use on him, if we were going to ally ourselves with a ghost like Dinero," the White Lady nearly cried. "But it can only be used for one ghost at a time."

"Fear not, my dear White Lady," Vlad comforted her, lifting her chin with his hand so she would look him in the eye. "I trust your word far more than his. I will keep an eye on him."

"But…"

"I will not let anything happen to you or your orb. I swear it."

The White Lady was quiet and averted her dull eyes again. Vlad moved back to where Dinero, the Ghostwriter and the Fright Knight were. He noticed that the Fright Knight was keeping one hand on the hilt of his sword the entire time. Of course, the Fright Knight would know Dinero just as much as the White Lady would, and probably trusted him just as little. Dinero did not seem perturbed by this at all and just stood with the open book splayed out in his hands, waiting for Vlad to take it.

Vlad lifted the book into his own hands and read the prophecy out loud.

"The Vanquisher of Pride fell as the Fire was locked away,

Kept in memory by Temperance as Time flowed on.

Pride's second rising will be thwarted when He returns,

Reborn before His second life should end.

As dark powers grow stronger and the balance breaks,

He will divide His form as His faith is lost.

But Diligence will reappear as life and death unite,

And both shall be at a truce as He comes forth again."

"I have determined that the first two parts of the prophecy have already come to pass," Dinero explained to Vlad once the latter had finished reciting. "Pariah Dark was defeated by Michael during the first war, and Danny Phantom imprisoned him again during his second rise to power."

"So then the third and fourth passages are the parts that have not occurred yet," Vlad concluded. He read the passage again to himself before closing the book. "I will have to think more on these words."

"Do you still believe that Danny Phantom is the one it refers to?" asked the White Lady.

"Yes, I do believe so," answered Vlad. The Ghostwriter, still sitting on his knees, chuckled. Vlad turned to him with a small scowl. "And what do you find so amusing?"

"You're so confident in this passage you read," the Ghostwriter recited, still rhyming. "That you would join forces with the ghost of greed?"

Vlad stared at him for a moment.

"Remember that a king who falls in with sin, Falls to ruin, t'is just a matter of when," the prisoner continued. "Choices you make to bring the boy to your side, Trust me, your future subjects will not abide."

The future Ghost King had heard enough. He motioned to the Ghost Lady with his hand, and she walked forward, her hand starting to glow a deep purple color. The Ghostwriter's face had a flash of uncertainty, but it quickly vanished and was replaced by amusement again.

"Hit me as you will, with your spell that enthralls," he taunted her. "I'll still be at the end, laughing at it all."

The White Lady stood silently for a moment with her glowing palm, before sending a purple wave at the Ghostwriter.

"Enthrall."


End file.
